Flesh Memories
by Rookss
Summary: “Alice, you aren’t the only one who’s felt pain you know! You aren’t alone!” Jasper has felt a lot of pain in his life, but when Mary Alice Brandon enters his life he has to re-evaluate his ideas of pain. OC/All Human
1. The Past Can Be a Terrible Thing

Flesh Memories – Chapter 1

'The Past Can Be a Terrible Thing'

Jasper POV

Here I was, back to the place where it had all started. No matter how much I tried, Dallas was always a part of me, a part of my history, and a part of my heart. Now no-one had said that the part of my heart was a happy part. Even whilst I sat in this new apartment, with its white walls and few pieces of furniture, I felt like it was still my fault. My fault that I hadn't been good enough, that I'd deserved it all.

Back when we were kids, Rosalie and I, our parents were kind. Back when we were kids, life was good. Back when we were kids, I was happy. Not purged with this hatred, and a slave to my memories, like I found myself now.

Rosalie had always been the star of the show, the apple of my parents eye, the brightest jewel of their crowns, and though I have always been her twin, since that little sperm met the egg, who was I in their eyes? No-one. A shame to the name, a blot of unruly ink on their papers, a drop in their stock markets.

You see, my parents had always been very prim and proper, always wanting the best and not wanting anything below it, and that's where I fell short. Mother was a very firm yet friendly woman, who held herself well and was noted for being a respected lady in Dallas. She was tall for a lady, matching Father's height when she wore high heels to any of their dinner dances or champagne parties. Her hair was always neatly pulled into a twirled bun at the back of her head, held with grips and the most nose-stinging hairspray known to man. She was beautiful, and I was so very proud to be her son. In turn, my Father was a very stern man, brought up to always attend to his duties as the Man of the House and settle concerns to do with money. He had a hard face, with defined lines and there was never a sight of stubble on him, for to him stubble was a sign of tardiness and trace of cleanliness. Every boy should be proud of their Father, and look up to him, but I never felt that type of emotion towards him – it was void.

In school, I definitely wasn't the brightest kid, and though I wasn't dumb it just wasn't good enough for them. Funnily enough, Rosalie got the real brains. As for who was the best looking twin, that certainly wasn't I. Most of the time, people thought that Rosalie was years older than her digits, and that I wasn't even her twin! With my straggly locks and long, thin built frame I was never up to their standards, no matter how hard I tried.

Soon, my parents had given up on me completely, and so my Father, being the man he was, resorted to the one thing he knew would never heal. Day after day he would express his disgust at me, naming my fails and giving extensive detail as to why he wished that I had never been born, and that Rosalie was their only child.

Of course this method proved to work best. My self-esteem hit rock bottom, along with my grades, and people only ever seemed to notice me when it came to Rosalie, gossip, or the teachers concern at my grades. That's when I grew angry. Why did they treat me so, not knowing a thing about me?! They didn't know how life at home was, not even Rosalie or Mother did, for he was most careful about them not hearing his jeers at me, or seeing the snide looks he would throw my way. In this respect, I was alone.

One day, he went too far. I remember that day clearer than the rest, as a deadly yet somehow happy memory. It was the day my life was changed forever.

_--------Flashback--------_

_It was quite late at night and I had been sitting in the kitchen, reading a book on the __Confederate Army. At the time I was only 12, yet my passion for the Army was _**_unprecedent_**_ed__. I heard the key rattle in the lock of the front door and instantly tensed. The rattling went on for a while, and I wondered what was taking him so long. Finally managing to unlock the door, he stumbled in, banging the door against the wall. Oh how I had hoped someone had woken from it and came to investigate. My prayer was never answered. I thought about lurking past him and darting up the stairs, but before I could un-freeze my muscles he staggered into the pristine kitchen. With bloodshot eyes he found me, his atmosphere reeking of alcohol and cigars, which were unusual for my Father, he was never a fan of such things, to my recollection. _

"_Here it is, my good for nothing Son!" he grumbled, his Texan accent stronger than ever. Leering towards me, he grabbed the collar of my shirt and pulled me out of the chair._

"_Wh-what are you d-doing?" I stuttered, having never been this scared in my lifetime. _

"_I'm just playing with my boy, can't a Father do that anymore, eh?!" his tone demanded an answer, one which I didn't comply to. He shook me fiercely, waiting impatiently for that answer. My brain decided this wasn't the time to act smart, whilst my heart had decided otherwise. I spat in his face._

"_No man like you even deserves children, I have no Father!" I yelled at his shocked face. For a moment it was blank, and then it abruptly changed into a snarl as he threw me against the tiled wall. It smashed and shards of porcelain rained onto my body. Volcanoes of red erupted from my skin, and my vision flickered.  
"You dare say that to me, boy? I made you. You are me. Does that make you happy?" he asked; his voice full of malice and a sick, twisted humor._

"_No. It disgraces me, to be related to such a bastard like you, it makes me feel physically sick…" my sentence was cut short from the punch to the gut I received. With blackened vision I heard him get up, I hoped against hope he was done and I could feel partially safe. How wrong I was. His liqueur-filled breath was clouding my face as he laughed at my winces of his weight on my wounds. I heard him laugh once more before I felt the most immeasurable pain on this Earth. Feeling this, I did the one thing possible. Screaming as loud as I could, I was shocked to hear the blood-curdling plea that my larynx could produce. It was full of horror, pain, and most of all, sadness. _

_Footsteps thundered on the stairs, and my Father laughed once more, heaving himself off my body. I felt myself slipping into the darkness, and the last thing I hear was Mother's cry of shock. _

_And yet. How could this pain remain? Lying on the kitchen floor, draped with porcelain and drowning in this fire all I could think was three words. _

_This is hell. _

_--------End Flashback--------_

Opening my eyes I tried to relax my hands that were now clenching onto the arms of the chair. My cheeks felt wet, and I realized that from re-living this memory tears had actually fallen from my eyes. The memories were that vivid, the pain seemed that real.

_--------Flashback--------_

_The day after that fateful night I __had awoke in hospital. There were tubes attached in my skin and clips on my fingers. Next to me I heard the steady beeping of my heart from the machine. My eyes then fell onto Mother, who's usually neat hair was falling out of its bun, creating waves of chestnut to surround her heart-shaped face. Beneath her eyes were puffy pillows of red, sickly complimenting her bloodshot eyes and tear stained face. _

"_I'm so-" her voice was hoarse and crackly, so she cleared her throat and returned to speaking._

"_I'm so sorry. Why didn't I see this Jasper? Why didn't I stop that menace?! I feel so terrible…" she broke into sobs, as it looked like the state she had been most of the night. Seeing her like this, it tore me apart, and so I reached over to her and placed my hand over hers. Her breath hitched. _

"_Mother, I don't blame you for what he did. Please, don't trouble yourself any longer with these thoughts. How much has he told you, where is he?" my voice was steadier than I thought it may have come out._

"_Everything. He told me everything. The police know as well, and he has been put in a temporary prison for the moment. Knowing what he did to you, I can't believe I ever married him. I was stupid." She looked at me, tears still resident in her crystal blue eyes. I had her eyes, and I loved that fact. Actually, it was the one thing of me that I didn't resent. Forcing a smile, I squeezed her hand. I forgave her, yet she wouldn't accept it. I knew it may haunt her forever, knowing that she had let her only son live like this for years. I didn't want her to be unhappy. Staring her straight in the eye I tried to show her that I loved her, that none of this was her fault, and to me she was one of the two things in this world that I cared for most dearly. All this I conveyed with my eyes only. The glitter in her pair seemed to acknowledge this silent bond._

_Rosalie may have been a nuisance sometime, and some could think that it was because of her greatness that I had ended in this situation, but I couldn't think of her like that. The only person I blamed was that bastard and him only. It was then that I realized that I didn't actually know what had happened to me. All I could think of was the torture that I felt from it after._

"_What did he do to me? My vision had gone black as pitch and the pain is all my entire mind remembers." I watched as Mother flinched, guessing correctly that she would rather not share the details. Her eyes darted to my left thigh and I slowly adjusted my view to it as well. There was a lot of padding on it__, and it seared with pain as if fire were being pored onto it if I shifted it. My eyes clenched shut at the fire. However, that was all that I could diagnose. Other than that, I was still clueless. _

"_Your Father he," Snapping open my eyes I glared at her; it was a deadly glare that could kill on its own._

"_I have no Father." My tone was stone cold, quite an oxymoron to the fiery emotions behind the sentence. Yes, I had no Father, but I knew a man who I would rather never see again, or only see him one last time. That would be the time he died. Hesitating, Mother corrected her wording._

"_Well when you were lying on the floor, he was on top of you with one of the kitchen knives, a bread knife, and he hacked at your leg around three times before stopping, that was when I ran in. It was horrifying. The doctors say he may have ripped a muscle in your thigh, but it won't cause severe damage." I snorted, and she stopped talking._

_Like he hasn't already caused severe damage to me, without needing the stupid bread knife_,_ I thought, which was what caused the snort. _

"_Where is Rosalie?" I asked aloud, wondering the whereabouts of my twin._

"_I dropped her off at Aunt Emilie's, I didn't want her to worry." I was shocked._

"_She didn't hear my scream?!" That was impossible. I was surprised the whole street didn't hear it._

"_Of course she did, but I decided against telling her the meaning of it and locked the door to her room from the outside. She knows nothing of this." _

_--------End Flashback--------_

To this day my twin sister still did not know the affairs of that night. It pained me for her to not know, but to let her feel this pain would be torture to my body all over again. I know that she hates being clueless as to what happened, but I think that somehow she understands that I prefer her not to know, and so doesn't press the matter. Even so, I hope that one day I will be strong enough to tell her everything.

Whilst I had stayed in hospital social services had got wind of me, and so proceeded to pass laws that said my parents were unfit to take care of me. They were so wrong, yet so right, to take me away. Mother was the best thing for me, that man, however, was not. It broke Mother's heart when they took me away from her, and I felt like a piece of me remained with her. I was never whole after that.

Soon the documents were in order and I was to stay with a family in Washington for a while, see if I liked it and decide whether or not to stay there. It turned out that I quite liked the family, and so yes, my mind saw it fit to stay with them. A few months into my new life I got a letter from the Dallas Courts. They wanted me to testify against the man that had ruined my life. They wanted me to help them prove he was guilty. I was more than happy to do this.

Two weeks later saw me standing in the courtroom, my eyes boring into his steely grey ones, my mouth poring out the story of the emotional abuse I had suffered, and in the end the physical abuse that had wreaked havoc on my body.

The Judge could not deny the anger in my voice, the truth of my words, the fire in my eyes. When I described the pain from the bread knife, half the Jury winced, the other half too frozen in sick shock to move as much. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, which in my eyes was not nearly enough. From being with him, I was scarred for life, and all he had to life through was 25 years in a stone box. I hoped he had terribly vicious inmates, who had sons of their own and missed them desperately and had heard of his cruelty, for they would express their anger in ways which I could not. All I could do was throw a mirror image of his malicious smile back at him as the burly guards shoved him by his shoulders back into the cells, where he would reside for the next 25 years of his life.

Maybe he would even die in them, one could only hope.

I, on the other hand, had a much happier childhood now I was free of that monster. For the next 6 years I could be a new person, with a fresh leaf and another chance. In this life I made friends, was a smarter person and a better person. I created new memories for myself, though could never forget the nightmares I frequently had of his face, his laugh, and most of all, his breath.

Discarding the Whitlock name, over the next 6 years I became Jasper Cullen.


	2. Decisions

**A/N: Hey! So this is the second chapter of 'Flesh Memories'. I decided to upload it today because 1) I just finished it and wanted to put it up and 2) It may make more people read it ;D These first chapters are very much just giving everyone background info, but rest assured Alice will be introduced in the next chapter for you all.  
****Now I have the notes for Chapter 3 right in front of me, and will start writing it now, but I ask one thing in return. If I get 5+ reviews from these two chapters the third will be up on Sunday. If not, I'll make you wait :)  
****Oh and also, thank you to Gemma (ElectroGem) for being my Beta, and to ElectroGem, reader13lovesbooks, XXSkittlesXX and Abikinzz for putting me on Story Alert/Fave Author, you all rock!**

**Enjoy,  
****x**

**Ps. Just to clear some things up. I made Emmett oldest because in my mind he always seems like it, and its my story ;) Jasper would never seem like the youngest brother, so Edward was assigned to that role. Also, Rosalie and Jasper _are _twins through and through, so for this story forget the Hale name, because they are/were both Whitlock's. Rosalie will be introduced in this somewhere along the way, you'll just have to be patient.  
****Pss. Jasper's watch is linked on my profile, if you're curious!  
****Psss. Don't forget to review! :D**

_Flesh Memories – Chapter 2_

_'Decisions'_

**Jasper POV**

My life with the Cullen's had always been a happy one and, despite its ups and downs, I loved every minute of it. When they had agreed to adopt me my heart could have burst with joy. They were all my family now and they were more than I ever could have asked for.

There, I had my childhood, the one I had yearned for all those years and had never got. Carlisle Cullen was the perfect father-figure, and from him I learnt the right ways to go in life, how to make the right decisions and what to do when the going gets tough; though we had both agreed that I had had my share of toughness in life at too ripe an age.

Likewise, Esme Cullen was just how a mother should be, though when I first met her I felt myself holding back from truly accepting her. My Mother was still just that: my Mother. To me, I had no Father, and if I ever had one he had died, and so Carlisle was just what I needed, someone to give me that hope again. Esme however seemed more like a Step-Mother in my eyes. At some time during my first few months with them she realised my tendency to close up a little around her and so we talked. I finally admitted to her the reasons of my awkwardness, and instead of being upset, as I had assumed she would be; she smiled. Reassuring me that she knew she wasn't my Mother, and she understood my view of things, and agreed to them. After that, we became much closer and Esme managed to pour some of her compassion into me, which helped me a lot after the horror I had been living the past few years.

Growing up with no-one but a twin girl had been hard for me, for I had no-one to play wrestle with, no-one to relate to or anything like that all my life. So really, Emmett and Edward Cullen was the best thing to happen to me. With them I could actually be a boy, a teenager, a man. Emmett was older than Edward and I; he was two years our senior and was always helping us with our troubles, no matter what they were. He was tall and strong, and I always felt safe with him. I knew he could defend any of us Cullen's or his friends in an instant if they were in danger.

Edward was just a little younger than I, four months separated our birthdays, mine being in July and his in November. He was much quieter than Emmett and I, preferring to read books or play beautiful music, which he was greatly talented at. However, he was always up for a game of baseball when the weather was nice. We all had our arguments from time to time, and how Carlisle had to shout to get us to hear him over our squabbles. It was quite funny; his face nearly purple from yelling at us and when we saw him we just started laughing at him. Thinking back on them now made me chuckle, poor Carlisle. My brothers, I didn't think of them as adoptive brothers, had always been there to cheer me up in those first couple of years, and they probably don't know how much good for me they have done.

* * *

As I reminisced the Sun had made its glorious golden passage across the sky, so when my eyes finally focused on something in the cramped room that was my living room they had a job to expand to let whatever light there was into my eyes. Glancing at the clock, it was surprising to see it flashing '8:45pm'. Had I really been thinking such a long time? I got up from my rather uncomfortable armchair and stretched out, yawning. It was only then that I realized just how hungry I was; not having eaten since breakfast.

Walking into the kitchen I surveyed its normalness. After living with the Cullen's I had gotten used to the large gleaming surfaces with their different pots of cutlery and what not. This kitchen looked small and boring, with its cream walls and simple furnishings; it wasn't to my liking at all.

_I need to go shopping, badly, _I thought, rummaging through the near-empty cupboards. Esme would be horrified at my eating patterns since moving here, they were all over the place. Most of the time I just didn't eat, without really knowing why I had skipped a meal or two, my body not noticing for my mind and sometimes after missing those meals I still wasn't hungry. In the refrigerator I found some eggs, and I had managed to scavenge some bread from one of the cupboards.

_Boiled eggs and soldiers it is then,_ I thought, seeing the butter tub lying lonely in the middle of one of the refrigerators shelves. Then I laughed, remembering that egg and soldiers had been one of my favourite meals when I was younger, mainly because the meal incorporated soldiers into it.

The eggs were boiling nicely when my phone rang, and I could only guess who it was on the other end. Moving at a slack place into the living room I picked it up and answered it, smiling as I found my guess to be correct.

"Hello Jasper! How are you?" Esme's voice chimed down the phone at me, it was a nice soft sound, a voice of comfort.

"Hey Mom, I'm still alive, if that's what you mean," I laughed, knowing the meaning behind her words. She worried too much when it came to her children, but it was nice to know people cared about me.

"You know that's not what I meant Jasper, I just wanted to know how you were," she put on a fake stern voice, which really didn't work for her at all, then laughed, "How's the apartment, have you decorated any way at all?" Esme was an interior designer; I should've known she would want to know everything about my decorating days. Even though I had now lived in this place for a month I had a sense that I wouldn't be here very long. I don't know why I had this feeling, but because of it I couldn't be bothered to decorate, the simple colours had annoyed me at first but now I just ignored them. Most of the time I was out of the apartment, so they didn't really matter; it wasn't like I had to see them twenty-four-seven.

"To be honest Mom, the main colour is white, and I don't intend to change it soon," I smiled down the phone, quite easily imagining the horror on my mother's face right now, "But you're welcome to come and change that, if it freaks you out so much?"

"Can I? That would be brilliant Jasper! I can come over as soon as you want, when do you want me to book flights for? I could be at yours for next weekend, does that suit you?" I was blown away from her babble of questions, but wanted to burst out laughing from them as well.

"Sure thing Mom, next weekend will be fine," I could actually hear her jumping for joy on the other end of the phone.

"Jasper it'll be fantastic, I promise, you'll have the best looking apartment in the whole of Dallas once I'm done with it!" she spoke rapidly, but her ideas for my apartment were probably running through her head much faster. I heard a sizzle from the kitchen, and looked around the corner towards the stove where the boiling water was over-flowing the pan.

"Crap," I whispered, running into the kitchen to turn the stove off, "Sorry Mom, I have to go now, dinner's ready, love you!" I heard the distant "Love you too sweetie!" from the earpiece as I took the phone away from my head and hung up, cursing at the steam from the pan.

Dinner was served, and I was only half in the present whilst eating the still-hot eggs. Instead, I was thinking of my 18th birthday, which had been only a month ago, and the events that had transpired from it.

_--------Flashback--------_

_I woke up and felt a sense of euphoria. I was eighteen years old; finally free to do whatever I wanted to, whenever I wanted to. Complete and utter freedom to roam America, cross the seas and discover the world. Then why the hell did I want to go back there?! Why was it that as soon as I thought of going wherever in the world my mind reverted back to that one place? There had to be a reason, residing deep inside my skull, locked in a secret chest with the key having been thrown away, it was a reason that I would have to work out myself. _

_Now pissed off I walked downstairs to a welcoming committee of Carlisle and Esme, two bunches of balloons and a grand breakfast lying on the table with presents behind it._

"_Happy Birthday!" they jointly exclaimed, I grinned at them both and pulled them into a hug. The euphoria returned._

"_Thanks Mom, thanks Dad, why aren't Emmett and Edward here to congratulate me?" I asked, wondering if my older brother had come home for the event or not, and puzzled as to where Edward was. _

"_Emmett says happy birthday, but his train was delayed, but he called and said he'd be here as soon as he could be." Carlisle replied, his young face lifted by his white smile._

"_And Edward?" I quizzed them._

"_You know what Edward's like Jasper, it's a Saturday, and you honestly expect him to up right now?" Esme chuckled, but she spoke the truth. It was rare to have Edward up so early on the weekend. A waft of bacon hit my nose and I motioned towards the table._

"_Do you reckon he'll be angry if we eat without him?" I asked, not wanting to be rude._

"_It's your birthday Jasper, I'm sure Edward won't mind that you needed to eat." Carlisle laughed as we sat at the table and ate the wonderful spread that Esme had made. _

_Once our stomachs were filled I leaned forward and grabbed the present on the top of a little pile that there was and that was when Edward decided to join us._

"_Aw man, I missed out on breakfast?!" he groaned, and Esme delicately cleared her throat and discretely nodded in my direction._

"_Oh yeah, happy 18__th__ mate. Now where's some grub?" Edward clapped me on the back and looked towards the kitchen. Esme rolled her eyes._

"_On the side Edward, it should still be hot." Edward smiled and loped to the plate on the side peeled off the Clingfilm on it and started eating it like a ravenous wolf. Laughing, I carried on opening my presents. _

_The first I opened was an Armani watch, which must've given them a serious drop in their bank accounts, and to add to that they carried on to say that they had added $300 dollars into my bank account as a start-up for the future. Tears sprinkled over my vision as I hugged them both fiercely. The other presents weren't so impressive, but useful nonetheless, odd bits and bobs that you needed all the time, so they were well appreciated. Edward had gone to his room and returned with his present to me after he had finished his breakfast. Passing me the gift wrapped, box-shaped present he leaned against one of the kitchen worktops, watching worriedly. Opening it, I saw that he had bought me an iPod, which must have caused him to empty out his bank account quite a bit as well, my heart was bursting with love for them all._

"_Thank little bro! This is great, I've been thinking of replacing my MP3 for a while now, but you've saved me the bother!" I winked at him and hugged him as well, though in a much more brotherly way than when I hugged my parents. He grinned sheepishly, his cheeks gaining some redness as he tousled his hair nonchalantly. _

_Smiling at all of them, I watched as Esme became a little nervous, looking at Carlisle. Carlisle then looked at me and pulled out a letter from his jacket pocket. He passed it to me. Upon reading the front I saw it was addressed to me, and on the back it said 'To be opened on July 15__th__.' It was Mother's handwriting. I gulped, and opened the letter._

_Dearest Jasper,_

_You have no idea how much it pains me to be away from you on your eighteenth birthday, to not see your smiles and feel your happiness. However, despite my feelings to this day I wish you the greatest joy and love in your life, whether I am in it or not. I know you are happy, and that in itself is the only thing I want for you. You may or may not know that Rosalie has moved to New York, but wanted me to send you her address (which is on the reverse of this letter), as she only left the week past and will not be able to communicate to you yet. As it is your birthday I have enclosed a cheque of $200 dollars for you, use it as you wish. I hope that soon you will visit me in Texas, and we can re-tie the bonds that were broken in the past._

_Happy Birthday Son,_

_Love,_

_Mother_

_xxxx xxxx_

_The letter sent a whole load of emotions through me, and most of which I didn't like at all. Looking up I found three pairs of eyes staring into mine, wary eyes they were. Forcing a smile, I waved my hand and spoke._

"_I'm rich! Mother has given me $200, which means I now have $500 to spend on whatever I wish!" I exclaimed. Esme's face was hilarious, the colour drained from it and she immediately erased the thoughts from my head._

"_Jasper Cullen if you spend all that money at once, I swear… It's for your future! Use it wisely, or you'll end up as a tramp on the street!" she chastised me, I laughed, reassuring her that I was joking, and that yes, I would spend the money wisely._

_Throughout the day, all I could think of was the letter. The only time that the thought was pushed from my mainstream of thought was when Emmett arrived, soaking wet from the outside rain but with a huge grin on his face as he gave me a bone-crushing hug and gave me my present. It was a small box, which was very light. I was suspicious due to Emmett's grin; it looked evil in the nicest possible way._

"_Go on then, open it!" he encourage; this gave me another reason to be suspicious. Tweaking the wrapping paper off, I threw a disgusted look at my brother, who was still grinning like a fool._

"_Really Emmett, condoms?!" I asked, desperately keeping the smile off my face._

"_Yeah bro', you've got to be safe nowadays, if you know what I'm saying," he nudged me and I couldn't help it, the smile escaped me and I roared with laughter, Emmett joining me. _

"_What's so funny then boys?" Esme had walked in and was curios to the noise; I had thrown the condom packet into my jacket pocket and attempted a straight face._

"_Nothing Esme, nothing at all." I smiled angelically at her; she cocked an eyebrow but said nothing more, and left the room._

"_A 24 pack Emmett? Who do you take me for?" I whispered to him, causing him to fall to the floor in stitches._

_Later that night, after we had talked and laughed to our hearts contents I lay thinking. Ideas were rolling around my head, fighting to gain the main attraction and by early morning I had made my decision. _

_The next morning found me waking up to packed suitcases, clothes ready to be worn, and a great wave of sadness thrashing over me. I didn't want to do this, but somehow I felt I had to. Walking down the stairs I looked at every single detail of the house, wanting to remember it forever. Who knew how long it would be until I was back here? I t could be years for all I knew. _

_Carlisle was sitting at the breakfast bar reading the day's paper and turned at the sound of my suitcase wheels rattling against the wood-laminate flooring. The confusion on his face turned to sadness. My heart panged._

"_Oh Jasper," he started, but I spoke over him, stopping his words.  
"I'm sorry Carlisle, but I have to do this. I've booked a taxi and I'll be catching the next flight to Texas. Please, say goodbye to Esme, Edward and Emmett for me, tell them I love them. I'll call when I've landed," I couldn't look Carlisle straight in the eye, to see them would hurt too much. _

"_Jasper, don't apologise for your actions, I understand," it was then that I looked up, Carlisle was smiling at me, "Be safe, Son," He said, clapping me on the shoulder._

"_I'll call…" _

"_I know you will Jasper, don't worry." Was Carlisle's reply, he was still smiling, a sad smile, but a smile nonetheless. I attempted to as well, but was most certain that I had failed. I took strides toward the front door, opened it and walked out, not looking back._

_-------- End Flashback --------_

I missed my family dearly, but at the time this move had felt right. Now, I felt like it had been a mistake, maybe I should have stayed in Washington. However, somehow, inside of me, it was like I had unfinished business here in Texas. What that was however, I did not know.

With a deep sigh I dropped my plate and cutlery in the sink and went to my room. I stripped down to my boxers and fell onto the bed, pulling the sheet over my body and watched the twinkling stars through the window, wondering what the future was going to do for me next.


	3. What You Can Find in the Rain

**A/N: Okay so this chapter has a lot of POV swaps, so look out for them and don't get confused! Also we have the introduction of Alice (yay!) so enjoy that as well.  
****Don't forget to read ****and**** review, otherwise you'll get another prickly A/N chapter ;D.  
****Hope you like it!**

**Btw, whoever can spot the Titanic references is a cool kid! **

_Flesh Memories – Chapter 3_

'_What You Can Find in the Rain'_

**Jasper POV**

When I woke up and peered out the window all I saw was a huge grey blanket pressing down on Texas. It reminded me so much of Washington, where you would wake up to this most days. Rolling out of bed I surveyed the land outside my apartment. It was a Sunday, so most people were still indoors, probably still sleeping. Looking at the clock I saw it was 9:30am, hardly a normal time for me to be awake on a Sunday, but I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep now, that was impossible for me.

A simple breakfast of toast and cereal was first on my agenda, and then, though I had no real reason to, I showered and got dressed. My wardrobe pretty much consisted of the same types of things; Levi jeans, polo shirts and too many pairs of Converse; and these are exactly what I got changed into.

It looked like Texas was going to look forward to rain today, one of the rare days of rain it ever had, but for some odd reason I wanted to go for a walk in it. For this though I had to wait, so I slouched on the sofa and flicked on the TV. Nothing very interesting was on though, and being the guy I am, I became impatient.

Getting up, I went to the closet and picked out an umbrella, because though I wanted to walk in the rain, I didn't want to get wet. By the time I'd found a decent sized umbrella I could hear the pitter-patter of the rain against the window. I turned off the TV and walked out the apartment, locking the door as I left.

After walking down the flights of stairs instead of taking the elevator I found that the rain had picked up, and the umbrella was definitely needed once the elements were raging around me, so I pushed it up and strode into the rain.

Texas was a much nicer place when it rained; in my opinion. Usually, it had a stale smell, and the prominent colours were oranges or dry yellows, whereas when the rain fell the smells were fresh and the colours were darkened into browns and greens. From living in Washington and having to live with it; I now liked the rain. I smiled into the rain, probably looking like a fool, but in the rain, I felt like I was home.

There weren't many people on the streets of Dallas; it was like a ghost town, so when I heard a whimper I was both curious and concerned. Straining my ears, as to hear where exactly the sound was coming from, I followed it. Finally, I could sense it was from one of the alleys in between shops. Here the rain was partially blocked, but not fully and puddles were forming in the dips of the road. Near the entrance of the alley was a mound which could have been mistaken as a pile of trash, except it was quivering and the whimpering sound was coming from it. Slowly edging towards it I saw various layers of newspaper covering the mound. Putting one foot in front of the other as precisely as I could, to not alert this being, I forgot to actually look where I was stepping. A shard of bottle glass cracked under my foot, seeming to echo through the alley. The mound froze.

**Alice POV**

What was that? I swear I heard something, or even worse, someone. Drat! Why didn't I find a better hiding place, this was such a stupid place to stay. Then again, what are the chances of it being him? I could just look at them, and hope they go away. I'm not dead yet, surely it is safe enough for me to just look.

Shifting through the different layers of newspaper was a pain, especially as they hadn't done much good as a blanket over me. They really failed at that job. Finally, I managed to find an opening and I stuck my head through it. For a few seconds I blinked stupidly, my eyes adjusting to the light of outside, even though it was practically non-existent. Once I could see the things around me I found I was in the shadow of a man. At that, my body automatically reacted, and tensed. Travelling in the night meant that no-one saw me, and I saw no-one. In fact, nobody had even approached me yet, this man was the first person. I wondered what he wanted, whether he would laugh like some or just give me a look of disgust. But no, his face was… concerned? Why was that, why should he care?

**Jasper POV**

Here I was, standinglike an idiot whilst this girl was sitting in a cocoon of newspaper getting even more soaked through because of the rain. I moved closer to her so I could put the umbrella over her as well as myself. Again, she tensed. She did that a lot, which made me more curious than ever, if that was possible. I wanted to know what had happened to this girl, why she felt so scared.

And more than that, I wanted to help.

**Alice POV**

We were both silent, just staring at each other.  
_Go on then, say something! _I desperately thought, wanting to know what this guy wanted, or for him to go away. To break the eye contact I looked him up and down. He must have a lot of money, from the way he dressed. It was simple yet very stylish, and suited him down to a T. His jeans comfortably hung from his hips, the polo shirt clinging to his muscled stomach. I lightly shook my head to rid it of indecent thoughts.  
_Not the right time Alice, _then, this guy did the weirdest thing ever. He bowed to me. Then he spoke to me, in a most polite manner, genuine concern colouring his tone.  
"Ma'am, what troubles have you, and what evil has led you to be kipping on the streets?" Wow. Well spoken, nice Texan accent, but it's been tinkered with, it isn't fully Texan yet more polite than I've ever deserved. Then, my natural instinct kicked in and I retorted in the rudest tone I could muster, anything to get this way-too-nice guy; that I didn't deserve to have the pity of, out of my sight.  
"What's it to you?" I guess that should've sounded like a great strong comeback, but that element was lost in the cracked way my voice came out. To be honest, that's what happens when you don't have a proper meal in three weeks.  
"It means everything to me if I see a young lady like you in such treacherous conditions. I did not mean to offend you Ma'am," Oh man, was he ever going to get the hint to leave?  
"Humph, well I don't need your pity," Inside me I was calculating how much energy I'd need to run, or walk, away, whichever I could actually do. The outcomes were not good ones.

**Jasper POV**

"I don't share pity with you Ma'am, I only want to help you," Now I needed to know what was wrong with this girl, and why she was pushing all help away so much. This was another bad thing about my need to know everything about people, but maybe in this case I could help. Somehow. She snorted.  
"Help me? You're crazy!" Her body started weirdly squirming, as if she was trying to psych herself up for something. I was loosing my patience with her; I only wanted to help after all.  
"With all due respect miss; I'm not the one living on the streets of Dallas in a house of newspaper," I retorted soberly, I hoped it would maybe make her see sense, but it only angered her.  
"So what, you think I'm a gutter-rat, or maybe one of the streets local whores?!" she was trying to raise her voice, but it just wasn't working. She probably hadn't had some decent food in weeks. Then she got up, meekly shaking the newspaper off her thin frame and tried to walk off.

**Alice POV  
**  
Oh no, this wasn't going to work at all. I could feel my limbs screaming at me to just lie down, or go with this man who was so keen to help, but no, I carried on walking. Pin-prick stars blocked bits of my vision and I felt the weird sense of numbness blanketing me.

Then all I saw was black.

**Jasper POV**

Watching her fall to the floor I dropped all gentleman acts and strode over to her.  
"Oh shite," I whispered, as I saw that she had fallen unconscious. The rain was lighter now than it was earlier, so I shut the umbrella and hooked it through one of my belt loops. Placing a hand under the girl's knees and her neck, I picked her up. This situation probably looked really bad, so all I hoped was that no-one would see and call the cops, I couldn't be dealing with that right now.

I walked back to my apartment with her in my arms, thinking about how quickly the future can change.

* * *

The next morning I woke up feeling terrible. Once I had gotten the girl into my apartment and wrapped her up in dry, warm blankets I sat by the spare bed which she was on, waiting. Waiting for her to wake up, waiting for the truth. At around midnight though it seemed like it would be a better idea to sleep, rather than carry on watching her when it didn't seem like she'd wake up for a while.

I couldn't leave her now, if she woke up to find herself in a weird apartment in a different place she might freak out and run off. So going to work was a no-no. I grabbed my cell and called my Boss. The dialling tone went on until finally, a voice answered.

**Alice POV**

My head, it felt like it was about to explode. Wait, where am I? This isn't the street, with its hard, cold floor and rank odours of trash and pollution. This was a nice comfy bed, warm too, with a soft, welcoming sheet covering me, not anything like the newspaper I had used before. Where was I?

I opened my eyes slightly and looked around; this room was a plain magnolia colour with the bed in the middle of the room against a wall with a few shelves and a bedside table next to the bed. It was simple, yet nice. I tried to sit up, and my head span as if I had just been hit with a baseball bat.

_Wouldn't be the first time, _a stupid, small voice in my head implied.  
_Shut it, _I replied to it. More than once had that conversation gone on in my head, it was repulsive.

It was then I heard the voice. It was rough, angry, and arguing with someone or something. Only just did I manage to stop the whimper from escaping my throat. I had succeeded in hiding for so long and yet still he could find me, capture me, and take me back. Back to hell, back to my old life.

Using all the strength I had I rolled off the bed, onto the floor so I was lying between the bed and the wall. Repositioning myself I heard the angry voice stop and then footsteps approached the room. This was it.

**Jasper POV**

My Boss could be very stubborn and indecisive when he wanted to be. That's why I thought he was a terrible Boss, just to add to my already terrible job. I hated being a bellboy at one of the Dallas hotels, it made me feel like an idiot and useless. I would much rather work to really help people in some way, not just to carry around their luggage.

It was early morning when I decided to see whether she who had made me so curious had woken up. Then I realized that I didn't even know her name, she was just 'the girl' that was unconscious in my spare room. Walking down the hallway I slowly opened the door to the room and was surprised to see the bed was empty.

_What the hell? _My head asked me, how could she have gotten out of the apartment without me noticing? It was impossible. Then I heard a small cough.

I walked round the bed and cocked my head as I saw the girl curled up in a ball, trembling and afraid. Her face was borderline white, with a tinge of green; she looked sick and distraught. The tremors racking her body were heart breaking for me; it was like every shiver made a crack in my heart. If I ever saw anyone in such a state I think they would have the same effect on me. Most of the time I'm able to sense how people feel; from their facial expressions, body language and just how they are. This girl was screaming hurt.

When she saw me the tremors seemed to slightly stop, as if she was scared I was someone else yet relieved that I wasn't that person.  
"Hey," I said softly, not really knowing what else to say.  
"Who are you?" she whispered, still rocking back and forth from her bubble of tremors.  
"I'm Jasper," I kept the soft tone, not wanting to scare her anymore than she was, "I brought you back to my apartment after you fell unconscious in the alley yesterday," she was staring at me, a type of stare that made me feel really uncomfortable, like she was trying to see right into my soul. It was then that she looked away from me, and regained her stare on the wall. For a moment she was still, then she spoke.

"I'm Alice."


	4. A Helping Hand

**A/N: Sorry it's late, and a bit too fillerish. I have to start coursework and so am feeling a bit 'Why didn't I start last week?!" so yeah. Plus, writer's block doesn't help. So I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit lame, hope you enjoy it anyway!**

**Don't forget to review! x**

_Flesh Memories – Chapter 4_

'_A Helping Hand'_

**A POV**

We sat in silence like that for a while. It was nice, in a sense that I didn't have to find any more shelter, I wasn't as scared as I normally was, and I was safe. And warm, that was another thing to add to that list.

My stomach had to ruin the peace. It gurgled and groaned, crying out to be filled. Jasper smiled at me and stood from his crouching position. He offered me his hand. I hesitated, and then took it. He pulled me up and held onto my shoulder to steady me as I wobbled, after not standing up since my disastrous failure it was to be expected.  
"C'mon, we'll get you some food," Jasper said kindly, leading me out of the bedroom towards the kitchen. His apartment was nice, not too posh yet not horrific. I couldn't complain, after all, this was luxury to what I was used to.

I settled myself into a high-raised chair at the breakfast bar, watching as Jasper rummaged around in the refrigerator and cupboards, choosing ingredients for our breakfast. In the meanwhile my stomach voiced its opinions here and there, making Jasper smile every now and then. For me, it was distinctly embarrassing. A few minutes later there was quite an array of ingredients on the kitchen surface. There were bags of flour and baking flower, sugar and salt from the cupboards, milk, butter, eggs and a bottle of maple syrup from the fridge. Also, Jasper had found a box of Pop-Tart's in a cupboard, so they were there too.  
"I don't know what you like, so I figured that you'd maybe like pancakes, and if not, Pop-Tart's," Jasper looked a little worried, as if he had done something wrong. I smiled at him, which eased the crinkle in his forehead.  
"That sounds great Jasper," I replied, still watching as he opened a bottom cupboard and brought out a weighing scale.  
"Okay, well you can go watch TV if you like, I feel nervous with you watching me," he joked, I got the message.  
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to," I apologised and slid off the stool, feeling Jasper's eyes watching my every move, just in case.

**J POV**

Only half my brain was concentrating on the pancakes, the other half was focused on the other side of the room. I wanted desperately to know what was wrong with her, what had happened to her, but I dare not ask. It would be rude, presumptuous, and too soon a question to ask. Thinking logically, would it be easier to take Alice to Washington, where it would be obviously safer for her? Maybe so, but I couldn't make that decision for her, I only just found out her name. Even so, and this was weird, but I couldn't help feeling protective over her. Knee-jerk reaction, I suppose.

I was just putting the pancakes onto plates when I heard the toaster pop.  
"Alice, breakfast is ready," I grabbed an oven mitt to get the Pop-Tarts, as Alice walked over to the breakfast bar.  
"Wimp," she chuckled, seeing me with the enlarged, heat proof hand.  
"What, these things are hot!" I spoke defensively, acting upset at her insult.  
"Aw, I was only joking," she smirked.  
"Yeah sure, eat up!" I slid the plate over to her and she neatly sliced up the pancakes before pouring maple syrup over them. Raising an eyebrow, I stared at her like she was mad.  
"What?" she asked, seeing my look.  
"Nothing, nothing at all."

We ate breakfast in silence, I hoped that was a sign that she enjoyed my pancakes, or maybe just enjoyed the food full stop. She looked like she needed filling out, all that there was of her was skin and bones, it was kind of sickly. Again, the question nearly came out of my mouth, but I stopped it just in time. Alice helped me wash and dry the plates after, leaning against the work-tops. At this point I noticed she was still wearing the clothes that I had found her in.  
"We need to take you shopping," her eyes lit up at the word 'shopping' and I could already feel a drop in my bank account, "You can borrow a pair of my old sweatpants and a polo shirt for today, the sweats might be a bit long for you," I looked her up and down. The sweats would definitely be too long.  
"Thanks, that'll be great," she then looked herself up and seemed to notice how bad the situation of her clothing was. Alice was wearing a black t-shirt that had mid-length sleeves and pair of three-quarter length black leggings, both items of clothing was dirt spattered and greying in places, with rips here and there. With her chopped charcoal hair style, the black ensemble really emphasised the paleness of her skin, she was an oxymoron in herself.  
"Can I take a shower?" she asked, to which I immediately said was okay, and showed her how to work the shower.  
"I'll leave the clothes on the spare bed for you, towels are in the cupboard."  
"Thanks Jasper." Then I left her to it, and went to get the right clothes for her to wear. I left them in the spare room and headed for the TV. I knew most women took a while in the shower, so I lounged on the sofa, preparing to wait for at least half an hour.

However, not even ten minutes later I heard the water turn off and the bathroom door opening and closing, followed by the spare room's door.  
_Wow, that was quick, _I thought, but didn't think anything else of it and went to shower. Even I took longer than Alice, spending a good fifteen minutes in the bathroom and another five getting dressed and presentable.

I found Alice standing at the window in the lounge, absent-mindedly gazing out of it. I startled her by talking.  
"You ready?" I asked, she smiled and nodded, "Come on then," I laughed at her; she had stayed at the window. A little colour touched her cheek as she walked towards the front door, where I was. This made me laugh even more, and in return she lightly punched me in the arm, but smiled.

* * *

An hour's bus journey later we were at the Stonebriar Shopping Center, just north of the centre of Dallas. Most of our journey had been spent in silence, Alice asking a question now and then about something we had passed, but apart from that, just silence.

Half of me was okay with that. The other half wanted to splurge out a million questions and get every single answer but with amazing self-control no questions were asked. I didn't want to offend Alice, or push her away. I wanted to look after her and be there for her, because no decent human should have to go through whatever she did.

When the shopping center came into view Alice's eyes widened so much she looked un-human. Surely she'd seen a shopping center like this before? She must have done. Even so, by the time we were within metres of the shops Alice was buzzing.  
"Where first?" she asked, though to be honest, I think anywhere would have excited her right now.  
"Hmm, well, you'll need just the basics for the moment, and I don't have a load of money at the minute, after rent and stuff… You might like some of the stuff at Old Navy, want to try it?"  
"Yeah sure, that sounds great."

As it happened, Alice did like the stuff at Old Navy, but just a little bit too much. Whilst sitting outside her changing room I hoped she wouldn't want to be like this is any other shop we visited, and this was just a first-shop urge type thing. Despite this, I made sure that Alice was handed the correct pieces of clothing she requested to try on, and gave my opinion when she showed me, though I wasn't that great at fashion. I thought that all the clothes Alice had tried on looked good, but she would spend at least 5 minutes speculating on whether to get it or not. Outside her door were two piles of clothes: the keep pile and the put back pile. Unluckily for my bank account, the keep pile was considerably larger than the put back pile.

"Jasper can you pass me the last two pieces? They're the chequered red pants and erm, the blue and white striped polo I think," her arm appeared outside the door, and so I picked up the right pieces and gave them to her, "Thanks Jasper," was her reply as the arm disappeared and the door closed. A few minutes later, Alice opened the door and stepped out, now back in the clothes she came in, with a huge grin on her face. She observed the two piles and bit her lip.  
"Oops, sorry Jasper," I rolled my eyes at her and she laughed.  
"Do you know how long you spent in there? Two whole hours Alice, and now I'm hungry. How about we pay for all this and grab a bite to eat?" she agreed and we each took one of the piles, giving one to the worker in the changing room, to whom Alice apologised for the amount of clothes and one to the woman at the check-out. Alice also apologised to this woman, who said that she it was okay to want to buy this many clothes, but Alice still kept her head slightly down and I could tell she was blushing. Through all this I smiled, but when I saw the amount of money it had all cost that smile immediately vanished. However, I kept my mouth shut and paid for it all. I grabbed the bags off the counter and pretended to sag from the weight of them, and said my thanks to the woman. Alice just flashed her teeth at the woman, who returned the smile.

"Where do you want to eat?" I asked Alice, who shrugged and simply said, "You choose." So I did, and we ended up at one of my favourites, T.G.I Friday's.  
"I know it's not very glamorous but you'll have to ignore that," I joked, but the way Alice was looking around the restaurant, it seemed like to her it was glamorous.  
"I'm sure it's great," she smiled at me as the waitress showed us towards our table.

* * *

**A POV**

It was around half past nine when we got back to the apartment, laughing as if we didn't have a care in the world. Maybe Jasper didn't, but I certainly did. Today had been fun though, considering. I yawned, and it was then that Jasper stated the obvious.  
"You're tired," he said, then yawning himself.  
"Well done Sherlock!" I sniggered, mocking him was so easy, and I could see it becoming a past-time for me.  
"Yeah, well, shut up!"  
"Aw bless, it's okay to be stumped from a good comeback by a girl," he raised an eyebrow.  
"Whatever Alice, go to bed," Jasper chuckled, handing me my shopping bags. They were actually really heavy, and though I had laughed at Jasper for pretending to sag his body earlier my body actually did sag. To this, Jasper roared with laughter and had to hold onto the breakfast bar so as not to collapse.  
"Humph! Goodnight, Jasper." I stuck my nose in the air and walked towards my room, not seeing the rug had a little hill in it, which I tripped on. In the kitchen I heard Jasper laugh even harder as I slammed the door behind me.

Setting my bags on the bed I let my smile free. It had been a lovely day, and getting to know Jasper had been great. I just wondered how long this feeling would last.


	5. Mental Wounds vs Physical Wounds

**Alice POV**

Down a dingy alley I was running. From what, I did not know, but I knew I had to run. My breathing was ragged and it felt like gravity had multiplied tenfold. I couldn't run faster, and I was falling back, as if I was in slow-motion.

Then I heard him, with his heavy breathing. I smelt him, with his mixture of sweat and alcohol. Turning around I saw those eyes. The eyes that were coal black and full of hate, those eyes which would yield no mercy to any; in this alley I was trapped.

Seeing those spheres, I pushed my body further.  
_No! This can't be; I was safe, what happened? _Not thinking properly I just forced my legs to pump faster, my heart was beating a sprint, sweat sprinkled on my brow and yet I still couldn't get away.

A hand closed around my wrist. I desperately tried to pull away, but he was too strong. I wriggled and I writhed, but for what? It was no use, I knew this, and it had been like this before. Trying anything, I aimed a kick to his crotch, but my attempt failed dismally for he proceeded to grab my foot and force it upward. Landing on my face I felt the bone in my nose be crushed whilst blood gushed from my nose, the flavour flooded my mouth. I started crying, crying from the pain, crying from the hate, crying for help.

"You know I don't like that," his voice growled in my ear, a hand snaking around my neck, lifting it upwards. I whimpered.  
"Or that," taking deep but silent breaths, I could taste the tears mingled with blood in my mouth.  
"There we go, see; you can be obedient when you want to be." He turned me over, so he was straddling me. Uttering an evil laugh, he stood up.

Cocking his head, he observed my body, lying pathetically on the floor. I looked down at the tatted rags I was wearing, feeling a sense of déjà vu.  
"What do you want from me?" my voice was but a whisper, it caused him to laugh once more.  
"You seem to not like my presence, would you prefer it if I walked away?" It seemed like a dead promise, but I nodded nonetheless.  
"As you wish." For a moment I was stunned, he was actually walking away! Taking my chance I stumbled to my feet and attempted to run from him.

I should've known it was all a lie.

Seconds later I was back on the floor, my face in a puddle and mud mixing in with the taste of blood and tears.  
"I can't see how you believed that Mary, you've grown quite gullible since your escape," he taunted, holding my head to the ground, "You'll have to pay for that little stunt you know." Oh how I knew it, how could I forget? I clenched my eyes shut, waiting for it.

He waited three seconds, before twisting my arm back the wrong way. My eyes fired open, wide and horrified. The bone ripped out of my skin, I could see it right in front of me. Skin tissue was hanging around the gap; blood ran like a river from my elbow as I screamed, whilst he laughed and laughed and laughed. The pain never stopped, it never would.

**Jasper POV**

A scream ripped through the night, and I was sharply pulled from my slumber. For a moment or two I was confused, who would be screaming in my apartment? My head flopped back onto the pillows for a moment, deciding that the scream had either come from a dream or my mind had imagined it. I couldn't have dreamed it, for I had been dreaming of the forests in Forks, of the green dome of it as you traipsed through it, the smell of the fresh rainfall when you opened a window to it.

Then I remembered her.

"Shit, Alice!" Only stopping to grab my dressing gown I ran to Alice's room. I opened the door and my eyes widened in shock.

The light from the hall fell onto her trembling form, tightly curled up into a ball against the wall, a shine of tears covering her face and lines of blood trickling from her nose into her mouth. She looked at me, and in her eyes I saw fear, pain and cold, hard hate. I gasped. Crossing the room I knelt next to her and tried put an arm round her shoulder. Alice flinched away from me. She was clutching her elbow, for some reason unknown to me.  
"Alice, come with me to the bathroom, we need to clean you up," I said softly, attempting not to alarm her. She shook her head, her body still rocking back and forth.  
_Fine then, _I thought, getting up and leaving the room. I took one glance back at Alice and saw her watching me with those eyes.

Alice POV

_He actually left… Wait! Don't forget the dream Alice, don't forget it. He came back too; there is always the chance that it'll happen again, _and so I stayed there, shivering still from the fright of the nightmare, clutching my elbow and sniffing the blood in my nose, which I didn't really understand how it was there.

A shadow crossed over me, I froze. As I predicted, he came back. Again, my eyes clenched shut. Then something soft dabbed underneath my eyes, and around my nose. Cautiously, I opened my eyes. There was Jasper, knelt next to me once more; tending to the physical wounds my mental wounds had caused me. He was treating to me, I was his patient.

Very carefully, Jasper leant over my body to where my hand was holding my arm and tugged it away. I let him. He shifted his body weight and put a hand behind my back, gently helping to lift me up on my feet.  
"There we go," he smiled supportively. Whereas I felt like a walking wreck, he still felt hope for me. There was no hope. He led me to the bed and pulled back the covers and gestured for me to lie back down. When I did he tucked the duvet back over my body and paused, staring into me for a moment, eyes filled with pity and hurt, then it passed.

Turning away he walked towards the door, not looking back until he reached it. With one hand on the handle he looked into my eyes again and said the only words that could help to heal me.

"I won't hurt you Alice, I promise."

And with that the door clicked shut, leaving me in the dark once more.

**A/N: Two things I have to apologise for. 1) The lateness of this chapter, I failed at everything this week, and suddenly I had huge piles of geography, english and art coursework that needed to be done. They sprung up out of nowhere. 2) The epic shortness of this chapter. See what writers block does to you? So yes, this is basically a filler chapter but hopefully you liked it! I promise, longer chapters are on the horizon.**

**Don't forget to _review_, peace out!**


	6. Sealed with a Kiss

"_I won't hurt you Alice, I promise."_

_And with that the door clicked shut, leaving me in the dark once more._

* * *

**Jasper POV**

At a snails pace I walked back to my room.

One single image filled my mind, and that was the one of Alice just now, desperately trying to hold herself together when it was a lost attempt. I could close my eyes, but the same image was burnt into the backs of my eyelids, like an imprint that would never cease.

I'd finally made it to my bed, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep now, so I simply sat on it. Inside my head, my brain was trying to piece things together, things that I didn't know but had to know. It was like a jigsaw, and nearly all of the pieces had fallen out of the box.

Firstly, what did I know about this girl? Well, I knew her name; Alice. I knew that she liked shopping and she had been in a lot of pain. So much pain that it still terrified her now, when she was safe, and that terror probably caused her more pain than the original wounds. All I wanted to do was to help, to heal her.

I wasn't even sure why I wanted to help _her_ so much. I'm pretty sure that any place in the world must have a multitude of homeless people, yet she was the one I wanted to help. It was like something that had to be done, like maybe she was too good for the streets, she could go onto so much better things and I was just a pawn in Fate's game of chess, helping them along by taking out a castle.

Or maybe I was a knight, the knight in shining armour. After all, I was always a very war-minded person. But me, a knight? That, I wasn't too sure about. I'd never had much to do with the female mind, not including Mother, Rosalie and Esme. I didn't understand females, per se, let alone how to help them. I was just going along with instinct, doing what I could, or what would maybe help. So what was I? Simple pawn or heroic knight?

At that moment, I heard the lock click and my train of thought was blocked. I was back on red alert.

**Alice POV**

Curled into a ball, I lay awake thinking.

Jasper had helped me, when I so thought he would hurt me. Now, mixed into the fear and hurt, I felt guilt.  
_That's definitely a first, _never before had I felt guilty like this. Whilst I had waited for anything that would induce pain, all I received was comfort. From this, I was able to draw one conclusion.

Jasper was all I needed, yet all I couldn't have. I didn't deserve him like this. Though I had not known what life would roll out for me, I knew life would never be easy. Those who had an easy life were rolling in riches; they didn't have to worry about a thing. Anyway, I had gotten myself into this mess; surely it would make sense for me to get myself out of it? This wasn't Jasper's fault. I shouldn't be taking his charity.

Decision made, I carefully climbed out of the bed, checking the clock as I did. It was only two am, not too early, not too late. I reached up to one of the shelves and pulled off of it a rucksack, along with some of the clothes that Jasper had so graciously bought for me yesterday. Changing into those clothes I made a vow. I would pay him back some day, when I had the money to. That was a silent promise I would strive to keep. Rummaging around in the bedside table I found what I needed. There was the piece of paper and a pen to write my last words to Jasper, maybe my last written words ever.

_Dear Jasper,_

_I can't thank you enough for helping me; you've been the only one to show kindness in… Well, a while. I know that just leaving in the middle of the night isn't very gracious of me, but I feel it's for the best. I don't deserve to be thought of by someone like you Jasper. You found me in that alley, but it wasn't meant to happen. You have to believe that. I know, I saw. So please, don't worry about me, I'll be okay, somehow._

_All the thanks in the world,  
Alice. _

I folded the note and laid it on the bedside table, writing Jasper's name on the outside of it. Quickly, I fussed over the pillows and the duvet, not wanting to leave a mess. I was taking the mess with me; I didn't want to leave any behind.

With that done, I tip-toed to the door as silently as my feet could possibly be, not wanting to be stopped. I creeped out of the room and carried on towards the kitchen.

**Jasper POV**

My ears were pricked up like a dog, my eyes wide open, adjusting to the lack of light. Was it really the lock? Or could it have been a tree tapping at a window? No, that would be impossible; there were no trees close to the window of my apartment.  
_Wouldn't it make sense to check the apartment?! _A little pompous, yet correct, voice in my head asked me. It was right, so I curved my arm around the bedside table next to me and tightened my grip around the baseball bat leaning there. I got out of bed and ventured out of the room.

Sticking my head out of the door, I could see that the hall was empty, and the kitchen was still in darkness, save for the moons rays shining through the blinds on to the floor. Slowly, I side-stepped to the kitchen: if there was an intruder they could easily attack me from behind and I wouldn't know about it until I ended up in hospital. Though to be honest, if I heard them before they got me, one swing could knock anyone out.

Once in the kitchen, I discovered it was completely empty apart from me. However, I still kept the bat high; I wasn't going to let my guard down.  
_Could your 'intruder' not be an intruder at all Jasper? Could it not be someone you … know? _Oh how I hated that voice, but it was, once again, right. I hadn't even thought to check on Alice yet. At her door I carefully pushed it open, and saw that the bed was empty, but made. A note was on the bedside table with my name on it.

I read it in shock.

What a stupid girl! She didn't have any money, only a few pieces of clothes, and I bet she hadn't even taken any food from the cupboards. What did she mean by "I know, I saw."? How could she 'see' that I wouldn't come to that alley? Also, how could I _not_ worry about her? Her leaving meant that I worried even more so for her. I growled and dropped the bat, running from her room, snatching up the keys and sprinting out of the apartment.

It was around quarter past two in the morning, how the hell could I find her, _again_?! What was more, I was still in my dressing gown over a pair of boxers with nothing but Converse on my feet, I looked ridiculous.

Loosing all sense, I yelled into the night.  
"Alice!"

**Alice POV**

My foot froze in mid-air as I heard Jasper's voice fly through the wind to me. It was desperate, which made me angry. Surely he must've read the note, if he knew I had gone. Why didn't he understand? A little voice in my head answered that one for me.  
_Because he cares. _Well I didn't! I felt like screaming and ripping my hair out, why couldn't life just be a little simpler, why was I so stupid in the first place?

"Alice!" my name was shouted again, it sounded closer, I had to get away. Walking faster down the street I kept checking left and right and behind me in case the time came to run. My feet were all that made a sound, the rhythm of their falling was kind of relaxing, it helped me to think of what to do next. All I knew was that I had to escape to somewhere, somewhere where I could not leech off of others, somewhere where I could actually deserve to know kind people and be treated equally without feeling the need to push people away. I did another left and right check. It was at this where my blood ran cold.

It was just the same as the nightmare. Standing at the entrance of the alley, breathing became a problem and I could feel my brain not getting enough oxygen.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a figure in the distance, moving closer, and closer. So this was how it was going to be.

**Jasper POV**

I was running around the streets of Dallas, looking for a girl who didn't want to be found, in the dregs of the morning. I was stupid, I was doing this against her wishes and yet I still carried on. Every street I ran down my eyes would scour the area, looking for that petite figure who could be anywhere right now.

Rounding a corner, I was just about to yell her name again, when I saw her.  
"A-" she was stood like a statue, her eyes were closed and her fists clenched. Alice was facing the alley, and yet looked like she was waiting for something.

I slowly approached her, and as she heard my footsteps her eyes flew open and she ran down the alley. This action did strike me as odd, seeing as she knew that it was me, Jasper, who was looking for her, who else would it be following her? I ran after her. In the corner of my eye I saw another figure, though I only had eyes for Alice as I followed her down the alley.

With my long legs I soon caught up to her and grabbed one of her wrists as her arm drew back. I stopped, and she was pulled backwards. Her breathing hitched and she forced her eyes shut.  
"Alice?" I cautiously asked, to which her eyes burst open, wide with shock. She seemed to choke on her words.  
"J-Jasper?! What are you doing here?" her voice was a mould of anger, confusion and shock.  
"What do you think Alice? I came after you, it wasn't like I was going to let you run off like that, you have no money, you have no food, how were you going to live?" her anger infuriated me, as much as I wanted to help, to be pushed away so much was unbelievable.  
"I'm not sure, I would've worked something out," then her eyes went completely blank and a look of terror replaced her previous facial expression and she whispered urgently, "Jasper, we have to go, come on!" Alice twisted her body and pulled me forward, toward the other end of the alley and in the direction of my apartment.

One half of me was feeling relieved, as I had found Alice and it seemed to me that she understood that I didn't _mind_ her staying at my apartment and that she was going towards it, rather than away from it. However, the other half of me was horribly curious. What had happened just now? Why was Alice so keen on getting out of the alley, and why was she so scared before? There was so much to know, so many questions, and yet I seriously doubted how many answers I would receive in return.

We got to my apartment block out of breath, sweating and very tired. Alice was clutching a stitch, but we were still holding hands. Both of us seemed to look at the inter-linked fingers at the same time and unlocked them, a little blush appearing on our cheeks as I fiddled with the locks rather nervously.

Once back in the apartment I turned and put a hand on each side of Alice's head and looked her straight in the eye.  
"I think that's enough drama for one night, and I don't want you running off again. You need to understand Alice, you staying here is _not_ a problem for me, in fact, its nice to have someone around again, but you have to promise me that you won't pull a stunt like that again," I was serious, I didn't want to have to run through Dallas in a dressing gown again.  
"I won't run off like that again, I promise."  
"Good, now I think we should both try and get some sleep." Then I did something that neither of us expected, I kissed her on the forehead. When I pulled away she looked up at me and shyly smiled, then walked away.

What I didn't add to that conversation was that I wanted, no, I _needed_ answers soon. Though I wasn't going to push her into telling me anything, if it was the other way round and I was her, I'd bet that I wouldn't want anyone like her to have troubles added onto hers by my own. Over the course of time, my mental wounds had healed somewhat, whereas Alice's were obviously still fresh.

Tonight had proved that.

**A/N: Ooo drama! Everyone loves it. So here is a much nicer, longer chapter, to make up for the last one! Also, I might upload one on Tuesday night, so then that doubly makes up for the last one, and I'm going to Wales on Wednesday on a school trip, so you might have to wait longer after that for yet another chapter. If I don't feel like uploading another chapter on Tuesday, or its not done, you'll get it on Friday when I'm back :) **

**For this chapter I want to see how you think about what went on, and whether you liked it or not. Also, I'm considering sending them back to Forks... Or do you prefer Dallas for the minute? What do you think? **

**Review and tell me your opinion!  
X**

**Ps. Epic thanks to XxWannaBetxX & Roses004 for the reviews last chapter, and wishes with my work load/writers block, and also anyone else who has reviewed this story, this is for you and you rock! **


	7. The Loop

**Alice POV**

My head was groggy as I was pulled into consciousness; flashbacks of last night filled my brain. Once I had finally remembered all of what had happened I groaned.  
_What an idiot thing to do, _I told myself, because that was the dead-end truth. But still…

I knew how they worked, and Jasper didn't show up, so how come he did? I needed time to think it over, but how could I think over something that I didn't fully understand anyway? Before, they would've been trivial things, or just an insight, but nonetheless, I would always know. With Jasper, I didn't.

In that, the pain never stopped. In reality, the pain never started. Throughout the past the pain had always started, no matter what. Whether it be morning or night, weekday or weekend, there was always pain, never comfort or regret, just pain. And that made this situation all the more queer. I was used to them always being correct, never misleading or with missing information. Even the most grotesque details were forever included. One little detail they now missed out was Jasper.

Thoughts were flying around my brain as quick as lightening, and still, nothing was becoming clear. Everything was still a tangled mess of rope, with not a single separate strand to work on. It was like trying to get a four year old to solve a math equation only a graduate student would understand. I was the four year old.

Then something else jumped into the situation. Jasper's curiosity. He'd held it in long enough, but I couldn't expect him to not be wanting answers sooner or later. If I was him, I would. What could I say? 'Oh yes, I'm a lunatic that sees things before they happen, but you don't show up in these, could you explain that to me?' Yeah, 'cos that wouldn't make him want to kick me out straight away.

This finally made me see something, something that I'd been denying for years, thinking I could sort it out. I needed help.

**Jasper POV**

My state of limbo through being awake and being asleep ended and I stared at the ceiling with my newfound headache.

Turning my head, I saw the piece of paper that had been disturbing my thoughts all night, mixing them up into a jumble of nonsense and crossing out every theory I could think up. I picked it up and re-read it, hoping that this time some piece of truth or logic would spring out from the page and suddenly make everything fit. But alas, life had never been that simple and I pulled my face into a frown, letting go of the paper and watching it drift back down to the table.

I needed answers, but could I just ask for them? Hell no. I couldn't just demand them of her; I can hope that in time she'll tell me herself. If not, then I guess I'll have to ask. Until then, all I would do is make sure she's safe, and that she doesn't run off again, I can't be dealing with that.

I sighed as my stomach rumbled, telling me that running around at three am didn't help it, and I got out of bed. Walking past the mirror I stopped and took a good look at myself. There was sleep in the corner of my eyes still and underneath them were slight shadows of grey. To top it off, my forehead was being slightly pushed together by the complication in my head. I looked terrible. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and tried to relax my muscles. In a way, it worked, and when I opened my eyes the little frown line had partially disappeared and I felt a little bit better.

When I got to the kitchen I remembered the empty cupboards and nearly gave up and went back to bed. Then I heard the pitter patter of feet behind me.

Turning around I saw Alice in day clothes, looking slightly worse than I had just now, but the little smile on her face brightened her look as she walked towards me.  
"Hey," my voice came out cracked and I cleared my throat, which made Alice smile even more.  
"Morning Jazz," where did that come from?  
"Jazz?" I looked at her, and suddenly her face became panic-stricken at my question.  
"You don't mind me calling that do you? I won't if you don't like it," she gushed out, which made me laugh, and she relaxed a little.  
"Alice, chill! Its okay, in fact, I kind of like the name. I've never actually had a nickname before," I confessed, it was true.  
"Really? I think I have, but I'm not sure."  
"How can you not be sure?" I asked, it seemed like a weird thing to say, how could someone forget if they'd had a nickname or not?  
"Long story. What's for breakfast?" Alice changed the subject, and I decided to drop it.  
"That's a good question, we haven't got much food, so I'll go out and get some, wanna come too?" Alice nodded in reply.  
"Okay, well I'll just go shower, then I'll be right out." She murmured a small 'Sure,' and then sat at the breakfast bar, staring at the surface of it. I gave her a small look which she didn't see and retreated back to my room.

Whilst making myself presentable I pondered over the conversation Alice and I had just had. It was definitely odd, her not being able to remember whether she had a nickname or not, and it was even odder for it to be a 'long story' that she didn't want to discuss. So there was another piece of the jigsaw found, but still nowhere to place it.  
_What's it to be Jasper, complete the jigsaw and risk losing her or put the pieces in the box and pretend to ignore it? _Risk losing her? What did that mean? Great, now even my thoughts I don't understand. To me, Alice was a girl who I found and was trying to help.  
_But what if she means more than that to you, _So what if she did? I wasn't going to pounce on her, was I?! Right, she is the jigsaw, the jigsaw that I need to find the missing pieces and put it together, put her together. Doing this would mean I could figure her out and understand her completely.

Running a towel through my hair to partially dry it I glanced over at her letter, where four words jumped out at me. I know, I saw. To notice those words and not all the others had to be a clue of some sort, something that my brain was trying to tell me, something-

My thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock at the door, which was followed by a muffled voice.  
"Jazz, are you ready yet?" I looked up and down my body and saw that I had put clothes on and certainly was ready. I hadn't even noticed.  
"Yeah, one sec," ruffling my now nearly-dry hair I went to the door and opened it, finding Alice standing outside my room leaning against the wall, that smile still on her face.  
"Ready," I said, as she turned and walked down the hall. I followed her and she waited by the door as I carried on towards the fridge and pulled off the list of things we needed from it.

We took the bus from the apartment to the mall, again sitting in silence. Alice was more the type of person to sit and stare out of the window rather than start a conversation, which I was more than happy at. When it came to car journeys or whatnot, taking in the scenery was usually a lot more interesting than mindless chatter.

However, when we were in the mall we joked around and laughed at stupid things, making up for the silence. Some people gave us weird looks, and others smiled. What I would've gave to have heard what they were thinking. I could understand how Alice and I would've looked, though what they didn't know was that it really wasn't like that. In reality, we were far from that.

Then on the bus drive home the pattern repeated, and once again we were silent. It was an odd little routine, but one that I could certainly live with.

And so the loop continued.

**Alice POV**

All day my head was spinning, thinking one thing and deciding to go ahead with it and then at the last minute I would chicken out, and go back to the drawing board yet again. A few times in the day I thought about doing a coin toss to sort it out, but if I chose heads they would turn out all heads, and I wouldn't believe it. Once, Jasper approached me on the 23rd toss, and wondered what I was doing. I quickly came up with a lie and say it was a habit. Really, it was fate going against me, pushing me to do something I knew I wasn't ready for.

So why care? If Jasper hadn't asked anything yet maybe he was okay with being in the dark, maybe I could string this out a little while longer. Though somehow I bet that would make the end result a whole lot worse. It was a risk I was willing to take.

In this sense, I wasn't lying, I wasn't covering anything up, I just wasn't telling the truth. By not saying anything, I could at least pretend to be a bit normal, if just for a while. Didn't I deserve that at least? Swap a lot of pain and agony for a glimmer of happiness; it was all I was asking for. How much happiness I'd actually get was a completely different question. Any amount would make me grateful; make my life that tiny bit simpler.

Jasper was my glimmer of happiness. I could see that now, whereas before I didn't. Because of him, I had a roof over my head, a duvet to cover my body at night and food to fill my stomach. Without him, I would be on the verge of death right now, or maybe I would've already fallen over it. The thought made me shiver, but a week or two ago it would've been a happy thought for me. Knowing that made me feel terrible and sick inside, remembering how I'd felt before. Yes, now I was a lot happier, whether Jasper knew the effect he'd put on me or not.

At that moment, Jasper caught me in one of those thoughtful moods.  
"Hey you," he chuckled, "Penny for your thought?"  
"A penny, in America?" I cocked an eyebrow at him, trying not to laugh.  
"Yeah, well, we're in a recession," at that I couldn't hold it in, and burst out laughing, to which Jasper joined in. When our breathing patterns were normal again his face turned slightly serious, and I gulped.  
"Seriously, are you okay?" I let out my pent up breath. Yet again, he wasn't asking for answers to my fears, just how I felt.  
"I'm okay Jazz, honestly." To prove it, I smiled, which made his lip upturn too.

And so the loop continued.

**A/N: I really fail at this, don't I? Okay so Wales was ace, the food however was not. Eurgh, I really don't like hostel food. So this is late, and I am terribly sorry, but hope you enjoy it anyway. First bit was slightly confusing, but if you want to understand it a bit more drop me a line and I'll get back to you! Not sure when the next chapter will be up, you won't have to wait too long though...**

**Don't forget to review, they make the chapters come quicker :)  
x**

**Ps. My Beta is away, so if there are any grammar/punctuation mistakes, forgive me! **


	8. Misleading Words

**Jasper POV**

Thursday morning sunshine woke me up bright and early, not quite bright eyed and bushy tailed though. I hadn't been to work all week, and so it made sense for me to at least pop in and explain my predicament. Whether my Boss would understand, however, was a completely different question.  
_Note to self, look for a new job,_ Most definitely, I was sick of the hotel, and everything about it.

I pushed myself up onto my elbows and looked at the time. For once, I really was up early, it was six thirty am, and I would usually sleep in until at least half past seven in the morning. Now that I was awake, I knew I'd never get back to sleep, so I took advantage of the extra time and pushed myself off the bed, swinging my legs over the edge in sequence. After a moment of head rush I stood up, stretched, and went to the wardrobe.

After picking up the usual outfit and deeming myself presentable I headed towards the direction of food. In the living room I found Alice sitting on the sofa, curled into a ball with a face filled with worry. Her eyes were trained to the television screen, and I followed them. She was watching the morning news, where they were talking about a missing girl called Mary, who had been missing for nearly four weeks now. Looking closely at the picture of the girl, there was something I recognised about her, but I couldn't place it. Mary had long, sleek black hair, her face was slightly filled with rosy cheeks and a smile danced on her face, putting a sparkle in her eyes. As much as I thought about it, no girl I had ever known looked like her, so I forgot about it.

"Morning Alice," my voice made her jump, she squealed and immediately switched off the television.  
"Jazz, you scared me!" Alice had a hand over her heart as she tried to glare at me. I put my hands up and grinned at her.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to. Anything good on the news?" I asked the question casually, but as I did her face went back to the previous mask of worry, but only for a second, as it transformed to pretence of nonchalance.  
"Nothing much, just the usual, you know, recession, swine flu, bank robberies. Normal stuff…" she muttered, fazing out and looking like she had gone into her own world. I waved a hand over her face.  
"Earth to Alice!" she snapped back to me, and smiled apologetically, "Anyway, I have to go to work for a bit today, but to be honest I might just quit once I'm there. But still, I'll write the details of the place down," I did so, "So you can find me if needs be. D'ya think you'll be okay here in the mean while?" At this, Alice raised her eyebrow at me, and snorted.  
"Jazz, I'll be fine. You go have… fun." She gave me a cheeky smirk, and I returned her snort; the idea of me having fun at work was definitely an amusing thought.  
"Sure thing, I'll see you later." Picking up the keys as I went, I left the apartment, along with Alice.

**Alice POV**

_That was close,_ Damn right it was! Hadn't they given up yet, honestly? Did he really want to find me that much, so much that I was still on Dallas news reports? This was obviously more serious than I had first thought, and he was going to do anything to have me back. What he didn't understand was that I was having none of that.

I could now see how badly I'd screwed up my life, it was all great before and then I made horrible mistakes that had led to even more horrid conclusions. Ever since the second Jasper had found me, life had got that tiniest bit better; there wasn't a chance in hell I was going to let go of that.

As the sun made its journey across the sky, I sat in thought, pondering all the decisions I had ever made in life, weighing the pros and the cons, wondering where it had all gone wrong. That was an easy question to answer really; I had known that all along. At the time I wasn't so clever, I knew better than that now. The prospect of being in such a situation again scared the living daylights out of me; I shivered just thinking about it all.

I was jerked out of my bubble by the phone ringing, its harsh, shrill tone reverberating through my skull. I walked over to it and my hand was halfway to picking it up, when I remembered that this was Jasper's apartment, and I really shouldn't be answering his phone calls. Instead, I found some paper and a pen to write down the number that had called and at what time. Once I was back beside the phone there was a red light on, which meant that whoever had just called was leaving a message.

Impatiently waiting, I tapped the pen against the little wooden table, which the phone lay on. Finally, the red light started flashing. I pressed the button to listen to the message and put the pen to the paper.

_"Hello Jasper, its Esme. I was just calling to see if you were still okay for me coming over at the weekend. You haven't called me in a while, I was started to get a bit worried, if you could call me as soon as possible then that would be great, because I still need to book flights to come over to you. I hope you're okay, and you've settled in well in your new apartment. Love you lots!"_

The pen stood frozen at a ninety-degree angle to the paper.

Esme. Who in the name of Mary, Jesus and Joseph was Esme?! My forehead scrunched up and I pushed away from the table, standing as tall as I could be from it. Pacing within the room, a million and one different speculations raced through my head, each one more drastic than the last. I imagined blondes, brunettes, red heads, short girls, tall girls, blue eyes, green eyes, brown eyes, and every image made my foot fall just that little bit harder. I was obviously interference to Jasper, so why didn't he just say so? Then he could have this Esme over whenever he liked, Christ, she could live with him if she wanted to! What did I care, why did he care? I could go. Believe me, the thought crossed my mind, but I had promised to him that I wouldn't. Besides, where would I go, what would I do? Life was being a first class bitch to me. It had got me well and truly trapped, relying on others, living off charity, all the things I never wanted to have to do.

My forehead rested on the clean glass of the window, as I stared out to the city of Dallas, taking deep breaths to calm my racing heart. Automatically I closed my eyes, thoughts still running a sprint round my brain. Why did I feel like this? Was it just anger, or was it something else? Being confused like this was something I wasn't used to. Despite all other emotions, life before this used to be so simple, even with other… complications.

I heard a key wriggle in the locks and my eyes snapped open. Turning around, I casually rested on the windowsill, trying to make it look like a natural thing. The door swung open and Jasper walked in, brightly smiling at me.

"Hey Alice," he sounded chirpy, I wondered why.  
"Hi," my voice sounded rather stony, but I carried on with it anyway, "You have a message." He said a word of thanks, and he pushed the button on the machine.

Jasper looked down at the machine whilst he listened to the message, his eyes closed and a content smile on his face. It grew slightly bigger throughout the message, and I could feel my blood boiling. Once it had finished, he sighed in happiness and looked up, the smile disappearing from his face once he had seen my facial expression.

"Alice, what-?" I didn't give him a chance to end his sentence. Instead, I rambled.  
"So who is she then? This Esme woman? I can leave if you want, I don't need your pity anymore, then 'Esme' can come and stay, hell, she can live here if she wants. I can tell you don't want me here any longer Jasper and that's fine, I will get over that fact too soon, believe me. I'll pack my bags and go, right now." I took a deep breath, all of that had been said in one breath.  
"I don't want you to leave Alice-,"  
"But what about 'Esme'? Won't she be a bit annoyed if she comes to see you and instead finds me here? I don't think that'll look very good, will it Jasper?!" slowly my voice had risen, I was nearly shouting at him, for no reason at all. His face was a picture of shock; he had no clue as to why I was freaking out at him like this. As a matter of fact, neither did I.  
"Let me speak! Alice, I don't want you to leave, but I think you've got the wrong end of the tale here," I snorted, so harshly that it hurt.  
"Oh really? Then tell me Jasper, what is the tale?" I snarled, wanting answers.  
"It's not what you think it is. Esme is my Mom, for all intensive purposes," my hand shot up to cover my open mouth.  
"What?"  
"Esme is my adoptive Mom; she took over from my real Mom when I was twelve." Jasper spoke solemnly, whereas I was over took with a wave of embarrassment and shock. I couldn't say anything, and so I did what I knew would work. I ran.

**Jasper POV**

Alice ran towards her room, whilst I stood frozen in the living room, wondering what the hell had just happened.

So Alice had heard the message before me, which I now knew. At first her stony demeanour had confused me, but now I understood it. The conclusions she had drawn from it were almost hilarious, but her reaction had taken me off guard so much I think I was in post-traumatic stress, or something like a minor version to it.

Her reaction was off the chart with emotion. With her shouts dripping with anger, and something else, I was totally confused.

_Women,_ my mind concluded. They were the source of this confusion. I could go and talk to Alice, but I knew that would probably cause more trouble than it was worth. For now, we both needed to sort our heads out. It was unreal how she had reacted to that one little phone message. What had she thought? That Esme and I were… dating?! That is wrong in itself, but Alice didn't know Esme, it was most possible that she had thought that, but why would she be so angry if I was dating someone?

Unless… No. No way, that couldn't be possible. Could it? I thought of every memory I'd had with Alice so far. The day I found her, down that shady alley, the state I'd found her in the next morning, our joking in the morning, her amazement and the mall, when she tripped on that little hill in the rug. I stopped and chuckled with laughter, but my thoughts overrode all laughter, as I remembered waking up to her scream, finding her after her nightmare with blood on her face and the terror in her eyes. I shivered, my eyes momentarily closing. The promise I had made to her rang through my ears once more, _"I won't hurt you Alice, I promise,"_ This memory was followed by her run away fiasco, and I then pictured us holding hands still after running down the alley, and when I kissed her forehead. Then I was replayed the scene that I had just seen, Alice's fury ripping through me, her shock had emanated through her.

Our small little history was littered with little happiness. It was full of disaster, confusion, lies and hidden stories. I didn't want this anymore. I wanted the truth, and nothing but the truth. It was time to come clean and finally for us to understand each other fully.

As I thought this, Alice's voice rang through the living room.

"Jasper, we need to talk."

**A/N: *Ducks from any rocks thrown at me*, I'm sorry, okay! I couldn't help but do a cliff-hanger, you guys needed one ;) But rejoice, 'cos you'll be all-knowing sooner or later! Firstly, many thanks to Roses004 (as ever, you rock!), Horsegal93, XxWannaBetxX, Sarah Elizabeth Emily Woods, Abikinzz and ElectroGem. You are all legends, I love you! **

**Oh, and extra thanks (I guess...) to ElectroGem for being my Beta, though she can be a pain in the bum sometimes :) **

**I'm not sure when you guys will get the next chapter, I'm seeing my Dad at the weekend, and a lot of coursework has popped up out of nowhere, but don't fret, a chapter will appear somehow! But reviewing does a) give me a kick to do it and b) make me want to do it, for your sake! Don't forget to also say what you're liking about the story so far, what else you want to be added in, how soon you want the Cullen's in it again! **

**x**


	9. You Found Me

"_Jasper, we need to talk."_

**Alice POV**

This was it. I had to tell him, it was now or never. Whilst I had the courage to peel back my layers of secrets, Jasper needed to know. I kept him in the dark and made a fool of myself, but now if I told him then I could erase my previous outburst. I could only hope.

Jasper slowly moved towards the breakfast bar and sat down, putting his hands on the bar in a very business man type way. Even slower, my feet made their way over to him, and I sat down opposite him. My hands were shaking; I had to hold them in my lap to stop them from making it look like my arms were shivering. With my heart beating a sprint in my chest I took a deep breath and stole a glance at Jasper, who was watching me carefully.

"Okay," I breathed, readying myself for the revelation I was about to give, "It all started when I was sixteen. I was young, I was stupid. It was the end of the school year and one of my friends, Jessie, threw a party to celebrate it. Jessie had a huge and very glamorous house, swimming pool, games room, fifty inch plasma televisions, the lot. She only invited the best of the school; you knew you were a somebody if you were invited. But Jessie didn't just invite people from school. There was a group of guys that she'd invited that were her brother's mates, and they were around two years older than us. One of them, James, started talking to me and I instantly fell for him. He had the nicest blonde hair, pulled back into a short ponytail and a body any guy would die for, and he knew it. He wore his shirt un-tucked and slightly open, showing all. Like I said, teenage instinct made me go head over heels for him.

"We started dating, and it was the best. Everyone thought we were a great couple and suited each other to a T. That summer was my idea of perfection; it was the happiest time of my life. However, when the semester started again James began to act weird when it came to my work and schedule. He would hate that I couldn't be with him twenty-four seven, and so instead he would come over to mine and interrupt me in it. At the time I didn't realise it, but I never did get any work done. My grades began to drastically fall and my parents and I ended up having a huge row. They said that I had to ditch James, because he was affecting my school-work. I didn't listen to them, of course, and I carried on dating him. A couple of months later my grades were so bad they said that I would have to choose. Good grades and living under their roof, or bad grades and James. You can guess which one I chose." At this I sighed, I was such an idiot. Jaspers face showed a slightly confused mask, but he wouldn't understand yet.

"I turned up at James' house; he had his own one as his parents had bought it for him, with my suitcase and tears flooding my face. He welcomed me in with open arms, and I thought that he couldn't get any better. For a while, we were happy. When it came to nearly a year of us dating he began to change though. Simple things I did would annoy him, like putting a cloth were it shouldn't go, or leaving his dinner in the oven for a minute too long. No matter what I tried to do to correct these errors nothing would ever be good enough for him.

"He started heavily drinking, and sometimes he would go out and I wouldn't see him for days. I talked to his parents about it and they said to not worry too much, that James had a lot of friends around the town that he would be staying with. When James finally came back I told him how worried I was about him, and that I resorted to talking to his parents about it. At the time of him hearing this he was furious, so furious that he slapped me, leaving the imprint of his hand on my face for a week." Jasper's fists clenched when he heard this, "I believed it was just because of the alcohol, and it was still residing in his brain. When he realised what he had done he apologised profusely, and I took it all in, I forgave him. James was my best friend, he knew everything about me, and if I lost him then I don't know what I would've done.

"One time James came home and I was reading in bed. I remember the night clear as crystal. He burst through the door and grabbed the book from my hands and threw it across the room, and we had sex. We'd had sex before, but this time was definitely different. There was no love, no happiness, just alcohol and his eagerness. Though I went along with it, I let it happen. And I'd be lying if I said that at the time I didn't enjoy it just a little bit, but I was deluded and idiotic. And so this all continued.

"James got a lot better with his drink problem, and we celebrated my seventeenth birthday in style. He took me to one of the best restaurants in town, and that was followed by the most impressive nightclubs I've ever seen. Shame it didn't last much longer. One night soon, whilst I was asleep, I heard James return home, but he wasn't alone. When I went downstairs I saw he was with a girl and she was gorgeous, much more so than I. James was kissing her neck, his hands on her hips and whispering things in her ear while she chuckled at them. However when she saw me her humour instantly stopped, and she pushed James away from her, saying she had to go and walked out. James walked over to me and just as I was about to ask him what the hell that was all about he punched me in the face, pushing my nose up and cleanly breaking it." I brought my hand up to my nose and felt were it had broken, Jaspers eyes following my hand, "We went to the hospital and I made up a story of falling over in the kitchen and breaking it on the tiled floor. They believed it, but it was the first of many hospital visits.

"I would arrive with broken elbows," I twisted my arm round to show Jasper the scar I had from one incident, "sprained wrists, dislocated shoulders, you name it, and I probably had it. But still, I stayed with James and convinced myself he was worth it. The worst was still to come, though I didn't know it. James would come home with multitudes of girls, who would satisfy his needs and then promptly leave, they never stayed. I let it happen. Sometimes, if the toys that James brought home didn't completely fill his needs he would return to me, and repeat the process to get his fix. I would enjoy it whilst I could, it wasn't like James would show this type of attention to me all the time, and he was always out somewhere.

"Anyway, a few months after my seventeenth birthday, I became very ill. I would start getting weird cravings in the middle of the night, and I would then throw it up again in the morning. It wasn't until I missed my period that I realised what was going on. I immediately went to the store and bought a pregnancy test. It proved positive. I was overjoyed as images of little baby booties, cute chubby faces and comfy cots ran through my mind. When I saw babies on the television my heart would leap and a grin would coat my face. But I still hadn't told James yet. First, I went to the doctors to have the normal routine tests. They said that the baby and I were in perfect condition, and the baby was healthy as it could possibly be right now. To say I was over the moon was an understatement." Tears were blurring my eyesight; both of my hands had automatically gone to my abdomen, lightly pressing against it.

"I remember when I told him, 'James, you're gonna be a Daddy', I remember how his eyes widened, how his fists clenched and how the anger flared in his eyes like nothing I'd ever seen before. For once, I was truly terrified of him. Then he did the worst thing possible, and it happened so fast, I couldn't even try to stop it. James launched himself at me and punched every inch of my stomach, whilst I was powerless, all I could do was cry for my unborn baby, cry for the happiness that I had now lost. Once he had deemed that the job was done he walked out, back to one of his whore-bars most probably. I was left kneeling on the floor, clutching the pain that I now held." As I spoke, my eyes were clenched shut, the tears still leaked through them, and I could feel myself rocking on the chair, clutching my stomach as I had done before.

"When I went to the doctors I knew the story I was going to spin. We had taken a trip to the beach at Galveston and I had fallen down some of the rocks by the sea, landing on more of them. The bruises would match them, it was realistic enough. Before the doctor had even said those words I knew them. 'Miss Brandon, I'm afraid you've had a miscarriage', they said it was from something called "blunt force trauma", but I was too distraught to concentrate. Though I was expecting those words, hearing them from a professional made them seem a lot more real, more solid. I had lost my baby, my happiness. The doctor said that I could wait for a natural type of abortion from the baby, or I could have what they called D&C, or dilation and curettage. I went for that option. Now I could at least sort my head out, or try and get my so called life back on track.

"James was waiting for me when I got home, which was a surprise in itself, the situation had reversed our pattern. I went straight to the bedroom, clutching my stomach and crying myself to sleep. He never comforted me; he didn't speak to me or hold me in my hours of need. I was glad. Finally I had seen the truth of him. Through this pain I had learnt the most un-attractive feature James had that I had never seen before: he would take away my happiness to replace it with pain just because he could. I wasn't going to let it happen any more. I'd had enough. That was when I planned to run, and never look back." I chuckled, and Jasper gave me a questioning look, thoroughly confused as to why I was laughing at such a point in this tale, "You've seen my escape plans Jasper, you can guess how it ended up." A silent 'Oh,' left his lips.

"So I packed my bags and ran down the stairs, in my hurry I had completely forgotten that James was still home. Of course he stopped me, not in the gentlest manner. Just as I reached the front door he flung me across the room, he was extremely strong, and from that escape plan all I got was a dirty scar that will probably never go." I took one of my hands from my abdomen to pull the neck of my t-shirt down slightly, exposing the slash just below my collarbone, Jasper gasped. That wasn't even the worse scar, well, the worst physical scar.

"It took a while to recover from that, but I didn't go to hospital, they'd seen enough of me, and my hospital record was already as odd as it could be. I cleaned myself up and carried on. James stopped being so suspicious that I would run away after a while, and he carried on with his life as well. It was one of those nights a couple of weeks later that I managed to successfully escape." A smile then touched my lips as I put my hands on the table and held Jaspers hands in mine.

"And three weeks later, you found me."

* * *

We sat in silence. I was trying to comprehend where this sudden happiness had come from, as if a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Jasper seemed to still be taking it all in, understanding it all. A small crease formed in his brow, and I decided to drop another bombshell.

"Did you see that girl on the news this morning?" I tentatively asked, he nodded, "That was me." His jaw slightly dropped, but the crease disappeared.  
"That was… _you_?!" Jasper was dumbstruck, whilst I sighed.  
"Yeah, that picture was taken at Jessie's party, sickly enough. Just before I ran out of James' house I grabbed a knife and once I was far away I got the knife and hacked off the length of my hair, and now I have this," I pulled at the end of my hair, and Jaspers hand reached out and felt the end of it where my hand had just been.  
"I like it," he whispered, blood rushed to my cheeks and while it made Jasper have a small smile I looked down, embarrassed. When I looked back up the crease had re-appeared, the smile now faded.  
"But Alice, you look so changed since then, thinner, gaunter. No offense, but you're a ghost now," the sad thing was, Jasper was right.  
"That I am. Nothing of me that you see now is what I was like three years ago. What I am is a changed girl."

Looking back, I now saw how James had completely ruined my life. Now I had no qualifications to put to my name, my parents probably still hated me, I had had the chance to prove myself as a mother and he had snatched that away from me and even now I couldn't remember much of my former life. All I could remember was from the age sixteen onwards. James had taken over my brain, and destroyed all true happiness I ever could have had. I was pulled out of my reverie by a sudden growl. My eyes immediately went to Jasper and I saw the horrible dark look on his face and froze.

"So he's still looking for you?" his eyes met mine, I slowly nodded. When he saw how scared he had made me worry flooded his face, and he gripped my hands tighter. "Sorry Alice, I'm not angry at you. No, I'm just thinking, he's still looking for you, and being in the same state, no matter what you look like now compared to that picture, it's too risky. I need to phone Carlisle." Carlisle? Who was Carlisle? I gave Jasper a questioning look as he stood up and caught the look.

"Carlisle is my… my father." There seemed to be more to it than that, but I wouldn't question Jasper right now, he was obviously set on task to sort this out.

**Jasper POV**

And now I knew. Baring in mind I was still partially in shock, I don't think Alice caught the shock waves that had emanated from me. A baby, she could've had a baby! As I was dialling Carlisle's number my mind brought forward an image of a little baby girl, with sparkling ice blue eyes like mine and short spiky black hair like Alice's, with a baby boy behind her, he had bright green eyes with a mat of scruffy blonde hair on his head. I was momentarily stunned. Where those images came from, I didn't know.

"Hi Jasper," Carlisle's voice interrupted my thoughts.  
"Carlisle, I need help." I found myself spilling all that had happened since I had found Alice, and I lightly skimmed over her situation, her eyes flashing over to me when I mentioned it, but she gave me a small smile, saying it was okay. Carlisle remained quiet throughout my speech, adding a few 'Hm's and 'Ah's here and there. When I finished the line was silent. Carlisle said two words only.  
"Come home." I was stumped.  
"What?"  
"Come home." He repeated, Alice was giving me a questioning look and I was still nonplussed as how to answer Carlisle.  
"I'll talk with Alice, and I'll call you back." I put the phone down and sighed, thoroughly confused. Stay in Dallas or go back to Forks? It was Alice that would sway my decision.

"So?" Alice asked, wondering why I was so silent.  
"Carlisle wants me to go home," the blood rushed from her face, "But he wants you to come too." Her mouth opened into a slight 'o'. We were silent again for a while.  
"I'd love to." She whispered.  
"You would?" a huge smile graced her features as she ran towards me and wrapped her arms around my neck.  
"Of course I would Jasper!" I laughed and put my arms around her waist.

As we stood there a wave of happiness overcame me and as I was staring into Alice's vibrant green eyes I wanted to kiss her.

I did.

It was only small, just a brush of lips, but once I had pulled away I saw the complete joy on Alice's face and for that moment she looked like the girl from the picture on the television again. She lightly chuckled.

"So, when shall we leave then?"

**A/N :D Erm, if there are little odd bits that don't make sense, I'm sorry. I didn't want to wait for my Beta to wake up (its 1:21pm, and she most probably still isn't awake...) and so its here!**

**I hope you like it. I do. Though researching all of the miscarriage stuff and then writing it made me cry. **

**So, _review_, tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you're looking forward to or just your general thoughts on the story, I love hearing from you guys! Oh, and if you have 'Jalice' fan-friends, tell them about my story, spread the word (like swine flu!)**

**Special thanks to: Roses004 you are awesome, I love our weird little** **conversations! Also thanks to EveryROSEHasAThorn-RosalieHale and Vassillia who are new reviewers and of course to XxWannaBetxX. You all rock, I love you.**

**Oh, and as you got this chapter rather quickly (I only updated three days ago!) you might have to wait a little longer for chapter 10, as I still have a lot of coursework that needs doing, and funnily enough this chapter came first...**

**x**


	10. Hope and Peace

**Three perfectly good reasons to hate me in after-chapter A/N.**

* * *

**Jasper POV**

Outside of the window the dream-like stature of the clouds burned a true gold, the sun was just behind us and it was like these were the gates of heaven, but we weren't ready for them, not at all ready.

Alice's steady rise and fall was so rhythmic against my side, I almost forgot she was there. Her pixy hair had shifted over her eyes, and I carefully brushed it aside, so as not to wake her. When she was asleep like this she was so peaceful, nothing in the world could trouble her whilst in this state. Except for him.

Immediately my eyes tightened, and a growl nearly escaped my throat, but Alice sighing stopped it. I looked down at her and saw she was smiling, and automatically my lips turned up. She was happy, and honestly, that was all that I needed to know.

* * *

After that night, something changed between Alice and I. Before, I had thought that we were going okay as it was, but I was obviously wrong. After that night, we were so much more comfortable around each other, it was odd to realise how secluded in our own minds we were until that point.

Now I knew, now Alice was not the only one to attempt to hold it all together, and she knew that I would stay with her for as long as she needed me, I would. Sure, I still had my own secrets, but she didn't need to know those right now, she was only just recovering from her own trauma. To tell her my past would not help at all.

So with that decided, Alice wouldn't find out anything just now, it was too soon. Something needed to happen, a trigger of some sort. Of course, using a random generator of fate to decide something like that is not the best idea in the world, but it is all I have.

Alice stirred, and raised her head slightly to see mine facing the window. I turned to her and saw the sleep still in her half-opened eyelids and chuckled.  
"Hey you," I said, whilst she gave me a lazy smile and fell back on to my shoulder.  
"How much longer Jazz?" she breathed, as I checked the over-head televisions to see the map they were showing on them. The miniature version of the plane on the screen was on the dotted line, practically at Seattle.  
"Pretty much there, Ali, so you've gotta get up," I laughed, feeling her falling asleep again. I loved that new nickname for her, it sounded so cute and lovely, perfect for her. The first time I called her it her face had lit up, it was adorable. Alice sat up properly and looked out the window. For a moment, she looked confused, and then she grabbed my wrist and had a look at my watch.  
"I thought it was later," she simply put it. I shook my head at her, rolling my eyes, which earned me a playful punch in return. Alice was still tired, I could tell, and soon enough her head was resting back on my shoulder, her breathing slowing again.

I couldn't complain, it wasn't like I didn't like us looking like we did. To everyone else I would've bet that they thought we were a couple. Best thing was, I didn't care. Honestly, to be in a relationship with a girl like Alice would make me a very happy man. But what exactly were we?

Sure, we had kissed, and it was nice. More than nice actually. But what of it? It was a spur of the moment type thing, and I think Alice had liked it, I couldn't be sure though. We held a weird bond though, I wasn't sure if you could call it friendship, we were more acquaintances that knew more about each other than met the eye, that was for sure. So were we simple acquaintances, or could it be just a very odd friendship, borderline relationship?

All these thoughts were too heavy, too serious, for me right now; I shook them out of my head. I wanted to have some fun for a while, and not have to worry about things out of my control. I'm sure Alice felt the same, though don't get me wrong, I wasn't thinking that it was because of her my life isn't fun anymore. If anything, she has given me a reason for fun, a reason for hope. Hope that she'll get better, hope that I'll be the one to help her get better, and hope for the fun that her life can then be filled with afterwards.

Yes, there was definitely hope.

**Alice POV**

Everything had happened so fast, yet all too slow. I couldn't comprehend half the stuff that Jazz had told me about… just about everything to be honest. He wanted to tell me everything about his family, and Forks, as if he was a full bath tub of stories and laughter that had been forced to keep the plug hole securely in its place until he was sure he could tell me. It seemed as though he decided to drain himself in just a few days.

The weirdest thing was, I loved hearing about Jasper's family, about how Emmett would always tease him no matter what, whilst Edward was the calmer one, but with an equally evil manner, of Esme and her love, who was the perfect mother figure, and Carlisle, the patient yet good natured father. They sounded like a lovely family, and whilst I was terribly nervous to meet them all, I had already been daydreaming of pulling pranks on Jazz with Emmett, to listen to Edward play his piano (Jazz said that he was the best pianist he had ever heard) or to do something nice and simple like help Esme cook a meal. Nice, family feelings that I hadn't had in a while.

Not meaning that I thought I was their family or anything, god no. I'm not even sure as to what Jazz and I 'are'. I guess that's just it, we are 'Jazz and I'. Despite not knowing what to call it, I knew we had formed some sort of bond, after what we'd been through together. Jasper wouldn't know it, but he had healed me in more ways than he could actually imagine. In myself, I saw the differences, though they were slight, and these pleased me to no end. Somehow, whatever the effect Jasper was doing to me, it was helping, and that was all the information I needed in the world.

Someone was lightly shaking my shoulder, just enough to pull me out of whatever state of slumber I was in. Groggily I opened my eyes to see Jasper's smile right in front of me. It was all I could do to not kiss him right there, did I have license to do that? I thought not, so I only blinked myself awake as he chuckled at me.  
"Ali, we're here," he murmured, but his words shocked me the most, I hadn't felt the plane land or anything.

Around me, people were getting up from their seats and collecting their over-head luggage. There was a wide range of people there, considering. You had the normal family types, trying to trade their bustling real lives in for the calmer atmosphere of Washington, business looking people that were probably going to head straight to Seattle for some sort of important meeting and the casual travellers, just going to Washington for the sake of going.

For some time I was in my own little dreamland, just dazing at my fellow passengers, putting together how they looked and how the acted; deducing how they made them who they were or mentally commenting on an item of clothing really didn't look good on that guy, or how a dirty scowl was rather unbecoming on that lady. All this time Jasper was watching me with a bemused look, simply smiling at my people-watching. When I finally noticed him doing this I felt like all the blood in my being rushed to my cheeks, it was quite shocking how red my face must've gone. To this, he just laughed, and I tried to muster up a scary face at him, but as usual, it wouldn't work. If anything, it made him laugh even more.

I managed to exit the plane with some grace at least (well, apart from a minor trip on the stairs, which Jasper was sure to notice and humour me for) and we easily made our way through the airport and to our bags. They were quite small really, as apart from what Jazz had bought for me I didn't own anything else. He had claimed that as he still had quite a lot of clothes back in Forks he could travel light. I just said that he hadn't got that many clothes in the first place, as he always wore the same things. In return, I received a large amount of tickling (which Jazz now knew I hated), but in my opinion it was worth it.

"Oh no," Jasper groaned, as we were walking towards the airport exit, and where I presumed a taxi or something was waiting for us.  
"What is it?" I asked, I had no clue as to what would need to be 'oh no'-ed at right now.  
"My family, it seems they have decided to welcome us back," he coughed slightly, "In style." His distaste was obvious, with just a tint of underlying humour. That's when I saw them.

Immediately I burst out laughing. How could I not? As you can expect, Washington airport isn't _as_ used as some airports, and still, the Cullen family were causing a stir. Esme and Carlisle were there, just as I'd expected them to be, sophisticated but with their air of fun, and I assumed that Emmett was the taller figure, as he was the elder son, and Edward the smaller.

Other than that, I wouldn't have been able to tell. The problem being that both Emmett and Edward were dressed head to toe in true to form cheerleading outfits, made up of short, (very tight) fitting tops, bright pink tutus and pom-poms to match. They were also covered in make-up, their faces a shameful orange with shocking red lipstick, false eyelashes higher than the Empire State Building and ridiculous peroxide blonde wigs. The overall effect was horrifically overwhelming, but to top it all off, Emmett was carrying out what looked like a cheerleading routine, consisting of many can-can like kicks and shakes of his pom-poms, while Edward meekly copied him. At one point, Emmett noticed that Edward wasn't putting one hundred per cent effort into it and stopped to punch him once, Esme's face was like one of thunder as she told Emmett off, who then proceeded to carry on his dance whilst Esme simply rolled her eyes.

Carlisle and Esme were also sweetly holding each a corner of a big banner they had made which said 'Welcome to Washington Alice!' with big grins on their faces; they finished their look by waving. The sight of them being so kind, made tears come to my eyes, they were too kind for words. We were practically at the automatic doors, and as someone walked through them before us I could only hear Emmett (in his booming, masculine) chanting in his best cheerleading manner:  
"Ali-cat, she's ready,  
Ali-cat, she's smooth,  
Ali-cat will take control  
And stomp all over you, hey!"

It was all too much for me, as I turned to see Jazz's face a very deep shade of red, I doubled over from laughter as Emmett ran over to me and gave me a hug, bone-crushing bear hug.  
"Hey girlfriend!" he squealed, in what I guess he presumed to be the best feminine voice he could muster, but it was better than I could reply, save for laughter. Somehow we made it outside, into the cool, somewhat moist, Washington air. Still slightly recovering from Emmett's more than ecstatic welcome I shook hands with Carlisle, Esme and Edward, thanking them for letting me stay with them and for their warm (Emmett gave a huge grin) welcome. Of course, they shooed these thanks away and said it was the least they could do.

Esme asked us to wait for one moment whilst she went to get something from one of the cars. We asked why she couldn't just wait until we were back at them but she said she had an idea so we let her go. A short while later she returned, with a digital camera in tow, and asked a passer-by if they could take a picture of us all. We stood as a full group underneath the 'Welcome to Washington Airport' sign outside with Jazz and I in the middle, with Esme and Carlisle on one side of us and Emmett and Edward on the other, the sign they had made for me in the middle of us. Once the passer-by had taken the picture and checked with Esme if the picture was okay she thanked him and looked back at us. Tears of happiness were in her eyes as she said she wanted to get it printed and framed as soon as possible.

And for once, I felt at peace.

**A/N: So, I fail. I'm so so so so so sorry. **

**The three perfect reasons henceforth are:  
1) This is so epically late, it is actually unreal.  
****2) It is also terrible, and has been thrown together with no fore-planning and has also been done in something like two hours (including writers block!).  
****3) I have exams coming up (June 4th, 12th, 17th AND 18th!) also I'm attending the British Grand Prix, have work experience, activity days and goodness knows what else coming up, so if you do get chapters they will be a) rather late and b) shockingly bad. **

**So honestly, don't expect amazingness until at LEAST the end of June? It sounds ages away, but really, it isn't. **

**BIG THANKYOU'S:**

**Reviewers – XXSkittlesXX, EveryROSEHasAThorn-RosalieHale, Vassillia, the evil little pixie, ElectroGem, Roses004, Abikinzz, hansbmd, XxWannaBetxX and lilsabeth, you are all amazing, and the fact that you reviewed made me feel even worse for not getting this to you all sooner!**

**Others that fave'd/story alerted – Flounder5, twilight2muchx3, lilsabeth, the evil little pixie, CrazyAJ, hansbmd and KiniKini13, thank you so much! I'd love it if you reviewed just saying what you'd like me to improve on in the story, what you like and dislike etc. **

**And also, everyone else (there has been 383 of you!), please review and just say what you think about the story so far, likes and even dislikes, I don't mind!**

**I'll shut up now, love to you all, and thanks again!  
****x**


	11. Headlights on the Highway

**NB: This was written very quickly, I finished at 1:57am this morning, and it is un-Beta'd so I apologise in advance for any mistakes or what not!**

**Alice POV**

Golden rays pierced the sky, the clouds glowed a pastel pink and the headlights above the highway buzzed to life as the last remnants of day disappeared.

Due to Emmett and Edward wanting to greet us as well two cars had been needed to get to the airport. Carlisle had brought his Mercedes and Esme was borrowing Edward's Volvo. Sure, they were nice cars, but for the life of me I couldn't tell what they were, apart from recognising the logo. Emmett had promised me lessons in 'car language' which I told him I looked forward immensely. No sarcasm involved of course.

And so, Esme had taken Edward and Emmett with her, while Jasper and I were going with Carlisle. To be honest, I preferred the Mercedes to the Volvo, it looked nicer. The start of the journey was filled with small talk, general chit-chat and your normal questions after seeing some one. For the rest of the ride, we mostly sat in silence. Jasper had put his hand on my lap, making sure I knew he was still there, and I slid my hand underneath it, curling my fingers into his. I saw a smile on his face, and needless to say, I couldn't stop one appearing on mine either. I could've sworn I saw Carlisle look at us in the mirror, his eyes softening at the sight of us.

It was this that leads me to another string of thought that I had previously dismissed. What were we?

Sooner or later, I was sure of this, Jasper and I would have to talk things over and actually figure it out. For now though, I was happy, and that was a miracle in itself. I hadn't been happy in a long time, about anything really.

I didn't want to lose this happiness now.

We turned off the highway and suddenly I was hit with green. Everywhere surrounding us was green, all tones and variations of it, yes, but just green. Dark, sinister shadows were created from the tall trees, that were probably a thousand years old or more and they just created barriers through which none could penetrate. Instinctively, I clutched at Jasper's hand. He gave me a look of curio, but rubbed smooth circles with his thumb into my hand instead of speaking, as to not attract Carlisle's attention. I didn't know why I was scared, but I knew that the one motion Jasper was doing was all I needed to be calm.

The fact that I was scared, and I didn't even know why, confused me. Why should I be scared now, when the only thing that could scare me was nearly two thousand miles away? I needn't be scared, I was safe. Smiling up at Jasper, I saw the worry in his eyes, but that scarpered as soon as our eyes met. It was an odd connection, but something I would treasure.

"So, kids, what are you going to do back in Forks?" Carlisle's voice broke the silence that only the hum of the engine had filled.  
"Well," Jasper started, looking at me uneasily, "We could go to college, or ask if we could just do an elective course. Alice never finished school, so I don't really know…" he trailed off. This got me thinking, what did I want to do now? Where did I want my life to be? Sure, I wasn't eighteen yet so could probably ask to be taken back into school but I would be so far behind would there be much point?  
"What do you think, Alice?" Carlisle directed the question straight at me. I felt like I was under a bright, burning spotlight, one which would follow my every move.  
"I'm not sure really," I mumbled, "I mean, I would love to do school again, but wouldn't I be majorly behind, would they accept me?"  
"If you like, I could talk to the school, explain your situation and try and get you in for next semester?" Carlisle looked at me in the mirror as I literally bounced in my seat.  
"I would love that Carlisle, thank you so much!" with a grin on my face, my brain whirring, thinking of all job possibilities I could now have, and how I could finally get my life back on track.

My parents would love me again. At this thought, my heart swelled with joy. I would no longer be the child that they dismissed from their minds; the child that they wished would've stayed normal and been respectable. I would be the child that would have made a nice shiny trophy in their cabinet. This was my goal.

"So with that sorted, what are you going to do Jasper?" I snapped back to reality and looked up at him. His features were contorted in thought, and it took him a while to say something.  
"Maybe I should get a job, just for the mean time. I've finished school and got the grades I need, and if I really want more qualifications there is time. For the moment, the money would be appreciated. Is that okay with you Carlisle?" Jasper seemed very keen to be on the same wavelength with his father, I envied their relationship.  
"Of course I'm okay with that Jasper, it's your life, and I'll support you in whatever." Jasper smiled, and started humming a tune. It was then that he rummaged around in the pockets of his jeans and jackets, looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.  
"Something to write on, and something to write with, but it doesn't look like I have anything. Damn," He frowned, and I started to claw through my bag, knowing that I had a notepad and pen in there somewhere. I found them, and in triumph I passed them to him.  
"Here you go," his smile once again reappeared, and he kissed me on the forehead, whispering a thanks. I could've sworn my heart leapt.

Jasper's hand flowed across the page, words forming in his elegant script as he wrote whatever was in his mind right now. After about half a page of writing he stopped and looked at it at eye level. Satisfactorily nodding, he ripped out the page and folded it, tucking it into his pocket. He then saw me following his hand and answered my unspoken question.  
"Ideas for a poem, or maybe a song, I could write." He explained, and at this Carlisle looked at me in the mirror.  
"He always does this when he is in that type of mood, you get used to it," he joked, and Jasper smiled, embarrassed, "By the way, we're nearly home."

I stared out the window as the scenery changed from the wall of green to the town of Forks, with its huge welcoming sign, its hand-crafted wooden bear statues dotted around, the small town shops, and the rain. Then, before I knew it, we were back to being surrounded by greenery, driving down a winding road with many twists and turns.

We turned a bend, and then a magnificent house was brought into my vision. My jaw actually dropped. Even after only living with Jasper for a little while, I would have never expected for him to have previously lived in such a beautiful house. Why on earth move to Dallas when you could stay here? It was madness to me.

It seemed I was too busy staring at the house to notice we had parked in front of it, and both Jasper and Carlisle had gotten out of the car to get the bags out. A small knock on the window was enough to grab my attention. Jasper opened my door and made a chauffeur-like pose as he held my hand to gently pull me out of the car. He grinned at me and I returned the gesture.

Jasper led me into the house, I drank in every single detail I possibly could, but the bubble of laughter and chat distracted me from this as we walked into the kitchen. Esme walked over to us and pulled me into a hug.

"Welcome to our home, Alice," she whispered into my ear, and she then looked into my eyes, a gleam of something more than normal happiness in her eyes as she looked into mine, but Esme then turned to Jasper and sized him up, making sure he was okay.

The Cullen's were just like any other family, but better. As the night went on I watched how they acted, how they were around each other. They weren't putting on a fake show to try and improve their egos or anything, they were just being themselves. And for this, I instantly warmed to them. I could see how my time spent here definitely wouldn't be an unhappy one.

It was around eleven o'clock that I started to tire. The long day, and flight, had worn me out, and an escaped yawn proved me guilty. Esme was sharp to notice this, and insisted that I should get some sleep. Needless to say, I was promptly shown to my new room and I immediately loved it. For me, it was perfect. Not too small, not too big. A very inviting bed, a decent sized desk and chair to the side and an ornate wardrobe on the wall that held the door. The walls were a pale purple, and somehow everything in the room complimented it. Then I noticed an area that was covered by blinds, and so I asked Esme what was there.

"They're balcony windows, but there is no balcony, so be careful," she smiled, but I was still puzzled.  
"But why have a window there, if there is no balcony?"  
"It was just something we wanted at the time; it's an odd little feature that starts conversations you see. Anyway, I'll leave you to your unpacking, sleep well!" With that, and a smile, she backed out of the room and shut the door.

It didn't take me more than ten minutes to unpack and fold or hang all my belongings in the wardrobe, and no longer was I in my comfy Pajamas and wrapped up in the quilt. Despite it being summer time still, it was rather cold. It was something I could get used to though. I drifted into sleep not feeling worried or defensive for once. Right now, I knew I didn't have to panic.

**A/N: Sorry. Another pretty lame, short chapter. One exam down, two to go. I'm going to try and write two long chapter this week, to get one up next weekend hopefully, and then one to upload on the thursday after that. _Hopefully_. I can't promise anything, but I'll try :(**

**Biiiiiiig thanks to:  
Roses004 (as always!), EveryROSE, hansbmd, Hannah, luvcandy, lilsabeth and XXSkittlesXX for reviewing, and also thanks to Jedi Master Adi Gallia and twilight2muchx3 for story alerting/fave story-ing! I love you all :) **

**Okay, well I hope you enjoyed this chapter nonetheless, please review, they make a very happy internet geek! (L)**

**x**


	12. Forever, with you

**A/N: Sorry it's late, don't hate!**

**Unknown POV**

Dumping my bags on the floor, I looked around the newest, of many, places I'd be staying for the mean time. It was a shit hole, and I knew it wouldn't get much better after this.

Counting on my fingers the amount of places I'd stayed in, I got to sixteen then couldn't be bothered to carry on, it was depressing and uninteresting to me. All I needed to know was where the best people were, where I could get drunk and who would be carrying me back here in the morning.

I sorted through my stuff, it was mostly just clothing, and I didn't have much else to be honest. Clothes, shoes, a few bags, the basic essentials that I needed to keep on. In my last place I'd had loads of cool stuff, but he'd taken that all back of course, wouldn't let me keep it for it to be nicked in the next shitter I'd be in. Of course, he knew all about that, all about this, all about me. He probably knew more about me than I did myself, but I didn't care.

Sighing, I threw all of my belongings into whatever drawer space I had, there was no point in neatly folding it or whatever, if I was lucky I'd be out of here by the end of the month, and trust me, I wanted to be.

Looking around the room, I just felt like jumping off a roof. It was all one colour, grey. Sure, different shades of grey, but grey nonetheless, and it was horrific. From the walls to the bed, just grey, grey, grey. I fell on the bed, and found that it was limp and disgusting. I groaned. It was going to be a long month. Maybe I could be so terrible that they would kick me out, or I could just run away. To run away though I'd need money, money which I didn't have. Yeah, I guess I could steal, but I didn't want to do that again, it was too much trouble, not worth the effort when usually the amount of money in a shop till is pitiful.

Even when I looked out of the window all I could see was gray. It was like there was just a huge blanket pressing down on me, there was nothing I could do to escape from it, there was nothing to do but get used to it. I felt trapped, and kind of scared, but I obviously wouldn't show that in due course. In all honesty, I missed the general sunshine of my last place, whereas here I could tell I wouldn't be getting much of that, it looked like rain was mostly on the agenda.

To add to my happiness, I would have to start school I suppose. _They_ would probably approve of that decision, and in the end it might help with something. In the long run there might be some hot guys in the school, but I doubted it. Oh well, here is to luck.

I heard my name being called up the stairs from the bottom floor, and with quite a bit of effort I pushed myself off the bed, it was like there were no springs in that thing! Taking a deep breath I strolled out of the room, ready to face the crap that I was about to be given.

**Alice POV**

Sitting on the front porch, in my own little world, I was in a day-dream like state. To say that my time with the Cullen's so far had been good was an understatement. Understatement of the universe, in fact. I had so much love for them right now, it was out of this world, and I couldn't imagine life without them now.

Sure, Emmett was driving me mad with his attempts at teaching me everything and anything to do with cars, which I had to politely make myself busy in some other area of the house, but I overlooked it and saw the sweetness behind these attempts: his puppy dog faces when I made my excuses were heart-breaking. I couldn't help but love the moments where I could sit with Edward while he played piano; it was definitely the most calming times in the house, if there ever were those moments. I had never realised before that someone could play piano so smoothly, as if they were born to do it, watching Edward play was definitely something I wouldn't want to miss. Watching Carlisle and Esme in their day to day lives was also lovely, the way they worked together and just clicked, I hoped that maybe some time in the future Jasper and I could be like that, if we ever got out of this weird phase we were in. Jasper. I sighed.

Just then, as if he read my thoughts, Jasper appeared by my side and sat down, and he casually started playing with my hair. I leant on his shoulder, wishing that just for a moment it could just be me and him in a place where no-one knew us, we could be anyone we wanted to be, as long as we were together.

"Hey you," he murmured down at me, still playing with some strands. I simply looked up at him and smiled; my reflection in his eyes for once looking just happy, no other emotions attached.  
"You know what I really fancy doing," he queried.  
"No, what?" I replied, curious as to where this was going. Jasper got up, and my eyes followed his as he held a hand out to help me up. I accepted it, and he gently pulled me to my feet.  
"Driving."

It wasn't long before Jasper had convinced Carlisle to let us borrow his Mercedes and we were on our way out of Forks. Clouds were gathering above, it was inevitable to rain, but we didn't care. Speeding off into nowhere, I didn't mind where we were going, or when we'd be back, just being with Jasper was all the confirmation I needed.

**Esme POV**

Footsteps were approaching me as I watched the black Mercedes drive away from the house and into the green abyss. Knowing those footsteps, I leant back as Carlisle's arms linked around me.  
"What's wrong?" Carlisle asked, fitting my shoulder in the crook of his neck.  
"Nothing, I guess I'm just feeling a bit odd at how quickly Jasper has suddenly grown up, taken on so many responsibilities, but also so proud at how well he is handling them. I don't want to lose him," my voice shook, and Carlisle held me even tighter.  
"You won't lose him; we've just got to support him in whatever he does, and let him know that we love him. While he knows that, he won't want to be lost." And with that, I knew I would be okay.

**Alice POV**

As if on cue, once we had left Forks it began to rain. Not too heavily, but just enough. I opened the window and put my arm into the downpour, twisting and turning it to cover it, though soon my arm was pretty cold and wet, making me pull it back in. Jasper chuckled as I closed the window, shivering. I jokingly glared at him, and then turned to look out of the windshield; all I was seeing was green and brown.  
"Jasper, where are we going?" I looked at him, seeing the weird grin he had on his face.  
"You'll see." Rolling my eyes, I slumped back into the seat, knowing I wouldn't get any other answer out of him. In silence we drove, the hum of the engine all that was heard, until finally Jasper slowed the car down a little as he turned off at a thin strip of road and carried on driving. I closed my eyes, waiting until when we would stop.

I felt the car slow down again, but we weren't turning so I knew we were where Jasper wanted to be. Out of curiosity I opened my eyes, and found myself face to face with pure ocean. It felt like there was nothing but the windshield to stop me from jumping into it. The only thing I could think of being the same to this was like that bit in Titanic where they are at the bow of the ship, and Rose thinks she is flying, but really they aren't. I was mesmerized.

Jasper got out of the car and came to my side of it, opening the door and gestured for me to get out of it. I did, and we sat next to the car on the grass listening to the waves crash beneath us on the rocks, watching as the moonlight glistened on the surface. It was beautiful.

Suddenly a breeze flew past, and I shivered, wishing that I'd brought a jacket.  
_Thank goodness it isn't raining anymore,_ I thought, thinking that I had at least some luck. Jasper had noticed my shiver, and was already taking off his jacket to put around my shoulders. Smiling up at Jasper, I leant on him, making sure that he was at least a little bit warm as well.  
"How do you know about this place?" I asked, wondering how he could've found such a lovely spot.  
"In my last few days of being in Forks I decided to drive around and see what I'd missed out on, so I just drove with no sense of direction, not knowing what I would find, and I ended up here."  
"I love it. I could stay here forever. With you." I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks as I finished the sentence. I slightly ducked my head into Jaspers shoulder so he wouldn't see me blushing.

Instead, he lightly held my chin and pushed my head up so he could see me, but he was smiling. Ever so softly he brought his lips to mine and it was the perfect moment. And then he spoke.

"So could I."

**A/N: Oooh, Unknown! Have fun figuring that one out ;) I'm so sorry its late, and that it is short. I had planned it to be much longer, but I honestly couldn't think of anything to write. I'll expand on the Unknown next chapter, and also school! Yay! So technically school is over for me, but I still have work experience plus a horrific amount of coursework to be done so I'm hoping that I'll get another chapter up next weekend, and then the one after that, and then I'll be more regular, fingers crossed.**

**BIG MASSIVE THANKS, as usual(!), go to:  
XXSkittlesXX, twilight1976, Hannah, hansbmd, Roses004, SweetoothMegs, XxWannaBetxX, Phantom Miria117 and lissyjazz85 for reviews, faves, alerts, and all that jazz :)**

**You know the drill now, review! Tell me what you love (Alice and Jasper!), what you hate (me for not getting chapters up so regularly!), what you think! **

**x**


	13. New Faces

**Jasper POV**

Slowly, I woke up. I didn't believe that I was awake though, because I could hear the rush of the ocean waves, I could smell the light breeze of salt floating towards me and the ground beneath me didn't feel like the nice comfy bed I owned, it felt much too hard and kind of bumpy. I hadn't opened my eyes yet, but I still hadn't decided whether this was some weird dream, or if I was actually awake. Using the usual decider, I pinched myself. It hurt, quite a lot to be honest, which proved that I was most definitely awake. It was only at this point that I thought it would be a good idea to open my eyes. When I did, I was greeted by a magnificent view of the ocean, along with the rising sun. The clear light blue sky was tinged with shy pinks and strong oranges, the glorious golden rays of the sun already making their mark on the ocean, where a long streak of sunshine was being reflected. To complete this image of perfection, I looked down to my right to see little Alice leaning on my shoulder, the rise and fall of her breathing all that could say that she was there, right next to me.

She had to see this. It was too lovely to miss, and I knew that she'd want me to wake her up anyway.  
"Alice, wake up," I whispered in her ear, hoping it would wake her up and I wouldn't have to take drastic measures to pull her out of her slumber. It seemed like my luck was out, I'd have to try something else. Very slowly, I shifted my weight and placed a hand on each of her shoulders and moved her away from me. That seemed to have done the trick, as she suddenly jerked awake and groggily looked around at me.

I couldn't help but laugh, but I immediately felt mean afterwards at the sad look on her face.  
"Oh Alice, I didn't mean to laugh, it's just…" I gestured at one side of her hair where it was flat from leaning on me and where the other side was still spiky. She smiled a cheeky smile and lightly pushed me.  
"Let's start again yeah? Good morning Pixie," I held my hand out in a truce, Alice pushed it away.  
"Ugh, good morning to you too Blondie, not a good name for me, I'll let you in on that secret now." The smallest of frowns was appearing on her forehead.  
"Hey, you! You can't be frowning with all of this in front of you!" I waved my arm out in front of us, trying to get Alice to appreciate the sight before her.

Her eyes followed my hand, and they then widened as she happily sighed.  
"It's beautiful."  
"You couldn't have put it in a better way, Pixie," I smiled as she glared at me, but not for too long. Alice couldn't be angry while looking at the glistening tips of the wave's right in front of us.  
"We have to go, don't we?" Alice asked, her voice filled with a sadness so deep I never wanted to hear it ever again.  
"Unfortunately yes. But we can always come back here Alice, whenever you want. Hell, we could even live next to the ocean one day if we wanted to!" This immediately made her smile.  
"I'd like that."

Even though we both knew that soon we'd have to return to Forks, before Esme sent out a search party for us (we didn't doubt that her over-protectiveness wouldn't go that far), but we still remained sitting on that cliff for at least another hour. We didn't even speak, there was no need. It was only until I heard a rumble that I was pulled out of the reverie we were in. Turning to face Alice I saw the little blush on her cheeks and grinned.

"Time to get some breakfast I guess," I joked, laughing at her still blushed cheeks. Once I had fully stood up I held my hand out to Alice, holding her still when she lost her balance getting up. I opened the car door for her, and as soon as she was in the car I walked round to the driver's side, taking one final look back at the ocean before we had to dive back into the army of forest behind us.

**Emmett POV**

"Seriously man, she is just not into you, okay? How do I know? Of course I know! It's so damn obvious, can't you see that? It would be like asking whether the sky is blue and the clouds are white or not. Give up. Fine, if you aren't going to give up, then I can't be bothered to deal with you." I hung up on my 'best friend'. Damn he was a pain in the ass. Sure, he could be a great guy but majority of the time, George Evans was just someone who I wanted to right hook. I guess that was kinda difficult as I'd known him since kindergarten, but whatever.

I sighed. It was these days that I absolutely hated. The ones that are just at the end of summer, when you know school is gonna start soon, and you kinda want to go, but really you just wanna stay home and sleep. In a way I did want to go back to school, just to have something to do. The weather was already going back to it's normal Forks state, clouds, rain, mist and fog, with occasional sleet and snow, and all summer activities had been exhausted. To tell the truth, I was just bored.

And that is exactly how I found myself aimlessly driving around the town of Forks in my huge, very recognisable, Jeep. Right then I would've loved to have gone off-roading, but the weather conditions weren't quite right, it needed to rain a lot first, so in a week or two it would be perfect.

Vaguely turning corners here and there I ended up in the centre of the town, where most of the population of Forks could be found. Listing all the places where there would be people I knew to talk to I decided to head along to the Garage, where I could at least strike up an interesting conversation with Erik, the owner of the Garage. I pulled up at the back of the place and jumped out of the Jeep, and began to walk round to the front. Parked half-way into one of the Garage doors was a racing red BMW. _Verrrrry nice! _I thought, wondering what damage had been done to it, but hoping that such a beauty of a car wasn't too badly hurt. I walked into the warm reception area and was greeted by a friendly smile at the desk.

"Emmett, what a nice surprise, seems like I haven't seen you in ages son!" I shook hands with Erik, returning his smile.  
"I know mate, it has been a while hasn't it? What's up with the sweet BMW out front?" I asked, mentally crossing my fingers.  
"Nothing bad, I know what you're thinking," he winked at me, "She's just in for a check-up, and talking of check-ups, you should check-out the owner!" he winked again, and I moved a little to the left to look through the window behind Erik into the Garage.

It was all I could do to not let my jaw fall. She was absolutely gorgeous, in more ways that I thought could actually be possible. She was wearing the simplest of clothing, but on her they looked so perfect, the artfully faded hip-hugging jeans, the pale blue tight turtleneck sweater, the black killer heels. All this was completed by her flawless complexion of the palest yet most glorious skin, her blood red lipstick and the carelessly falling blonde waves trailing down her back. Erik snapped his fingers in front of my face, jolting me out of the trance I was in. He laughed at my stunned expression, and while still chuckling spoke.

"It's rude to stare; you should know that by now! Go talk to her if you want, she is a very pleasant woman, and she won't bite." Erik turned away and started sorting out paperwork, a smile still on his face as I stood for a second contemplating whether to go talk to this beauty or walk away. Decision made, I strode through the doors from the reception area into the Garage.

The Beauty didn't notice me; she was only paying attention to the guy tending to her car, which was now raised on a platform for the underneath to be inspected. I walked around to the other side of the car to stand next to the Beauty and looked up at the car, thinking of a conversation starter.

"Nice car." Oh, clever Emmett, real clever.  
"Thanks." Still, her eyes were kept glued to the car.  
"How come you're getting her checked? Isn't she the new model that was only out a few months ago?" I asked, trying to smooth out the dumb-ass comment from before.  
"Yeah, she is, but I just drove her all the way from Texas to here, and I wanted to make sure that everything was still okay." She loved her car, I could tell from that sparkle in her eye as she talked about it, and the worry that filled her voice as she spoke.  
"Oh, I'm Emmett by the way," I introduced myself, holding out a hand. It was only then that she looked at me, a genuine smile on her lips, and the hazel brown of her eyes practically shining like a beacon. She took my hand and shook it.  
"Hi, I'm Rosalie."

**A/N: Yeah, I fail, I know. Sorry! Work experience was really good though, and this is my last week of school so hopefully my chapters will be more regular soon! Just in case you're wondering, yes I did use Kellan's character in 90210 as his best friend in this, because I don't like his character in 90210, but I can see George Evans being the type of guy Emmett would have to hang out with... Or maybe I'm just weird. Anywho, Hello Rosalie! Hope you Rosalie fans are happy with that, and I hope the start was cute enough for you guys!**

**Ginormous thanks as always to:  
sweetiebreezy, XxWannaBetxX, LylSev, livinginadream-2013, XXSkittlesXX, Roses004, Hannah and hansbmd for the reviews, faves, story alerts, everything! You guys are ace, you just need to kick my butt to get chapters out to you ;)**

**Okie dokes, with that done, you know what to do now! Love to you all, and apologies again for it being so late!**

**x  
**


	14. The Calm Before the Storm

**Alice POV**

We were driving back in the general direction of Forks, the sea long gone behind us, when I sighed.  
"What's wrong Pixie?" Jasper asked immediately, also annoying the hell out of me.  
"Seriously, that nickname is not going to bode well Jasper Cullen." I glared at him, and his lips were pressed tightly together to stop him from laughing. Rolling my eyes, I carried on.  
"I don't know, I love Forks, and your family of course, but I guess I'd just like to spent a tiny bit more time like this, just you and me. Does that make sense without me sounding completely stupid?" I looked over at Jasper, his face normal and thinking now.  
"Don't worry, I understand. You're hungry, so we'll go to this little diner I know, it's just on the outskirts of Forks, and I think you'll like it." He smiled over at me reassuringly. My hand found his and I squeezed it lightly.  
"That sounds perfect."

Breakfast consisted of pancakes and syrup with a few waffles for me, while Jasper was readily making his way through the generous plate of steak, eggs, mushroom, sausage and every other breakfast food item known to man. I wondered whether he would actually finish it all. Of course, we both had our fuel for the day as drinks: coffee. After having hardly any sleep last night, we needed it. Jasper had been right; I did like this diner a lot. It was cute, in a 'cabin in the middle of the forest' type sense. Which when I thought about it, was just what it was. It had a counter lining up against most of one of the walls, with little booths running along the other wall next to the window and little tables for couples by the door. Jasper and I had chosen to sit in the booths, purely because they were simply more comfortable. Mid-way through eating, Jasper suddenly stopped and looked up at me. I cocked an eyebrow at him and swallowed the piece of food in my mouth.

"What's wrong?" I asked.  
"I've just realised something," he began, then took a sip of coffee, "With school starting an all, you're going to need new clothes, we need to go shopping." I nearly choked on a bit of waffle. Jasper had to then get out of the booth and come round to my side of the booth and pat my back until my eyes stopped watering and I could breathe properly.  
"What was that about?!" he exclaimed, both anxious and a little bit angry.  
"I'm sorry, but I just couldn't believe that a male was saying that they needed to go shopping!" There was a small silence, and then we both burst into laughter until we couldn't anymore.  
"Okay, okay," Jasper started, practically gasping for air. He took a deep breathe and exhaled. "Now I see your point. But seriously, we do. You have hardly any clothes as it is," After saying that he looked guilty, and instinct lead me to rest my hand on top of his on the table.  
"Jasper, that isn't your fault. You've been the best thing to happen to me in a long, long time." Even though his head was dipped I knew he was blushing. After a small amount of seconds that seemed to last a lifetime Jasper lifted his head up and cleared his throat.  
"Yeah, well, we should eat this food before it gets cold." I laughed at him but smiled nonetheless as he tucked back into his breakfast.

_Typical male, only worried about his food,_ I thought, but this was an oxymoron to how I knew Jasper was. He cared deeply, that I knew. Internally I felt like sighing again.  
_How did I get so lucky?_

Just after we had paid the bill Jasper's cell starting ringing from his pocket. He took one look at the caller ID and smiled, rolling his eyes.  
"Carlisle?" I made the word a question, and Jasper silently nodded as he answered.  
"Hey Carlisle, what's up?" he had a cheeky, high-school bad boy smile on his face as he nonchalantly spoke to his father.  
"No, your car is in perfect condition, oh wait, there's just a few bumps and grazes here and there, nothing to-" Then suddenly Carlisle's voice became much louder, so much so that even I could hear his words clearly and Jasper had to take the phone away from his ear.  
"Jasper Cullen, if you have even left a single mark, smudge or scratch on that car you won't know what's happened to you!" Jasper and I were in silent fits of laughter as he took shallow breathes to talk.  
"Dad, chill, the car is fine, I'm kidding with you. We'll be back in a bit anyway, literally," Carlisle seemed to be reassured, and by the looks of it he had quickly said bye and hung up. Both of us held up our hands in the air simultaneously and high-fived, chuckling like seven year olds as we got back into the car.

**Emmett POV **

"So, Texas. Huh." Is that all you're going to say Emmett? "What brings you up to the rainy state of Washington, and even more so the dreary town of Forks then?" Inwardly, I was face palming myself.  
"Visiting family, you?" Her eyes were still glued to her precious car (I couldn't blame her; if I had a car as expensive I'd be doing the exact same).  
"Oh, I live here, so I'm pretty much stuck," I chuckled nervously and she actually looked at me instead of the BMW, trust me to look like a fool as those deep hazel eyes finally decided to meet mine. Oh, and there is the well-timed blush, arriving at the perfect moment as always. I swear though, her smile got bigger.  
"I'm sure it isn't that bad," Rosalie broke the awkward silence, trying to compromise.  
"Really, it is. I mean, after a while you just get used to the weather and put up with it, but with places like Seattle being over three hours away and so on, it kinda sucks," I shrugged my shoulders, "Like I say, you get used to it."  
"Oh, I don't know, I think I could get to like the idea of being so far away from everything. Dallas is so big, so… intimidating, I guess in some respects it'll be nice to be in the type of environment where everyone knows each other, and everyone is friendly."  
"Friendly?" I scoffed, "Look Rosalie, the fact that everyone knows each other just means the gossip is easier to flow, believe me!" At this she laughed, and I was nearly put in another trance from the sound. It was so sweet, so pure. I was mesmerized.  
"You're funny Emmett, I like people like you."

At this moment the blush became beyond horrific, and a change of subject was definitely needed. Though, for some indescribable reason, I felt like this was a start of something. Sure as hell I didn't believe that this beautiful woman would ever dream of being with me but I guess I just had this weird gut feeling, and if I was feeling it in my gut then I was certainly going to be feel it in my heart and, more importantly, my brain.

**Jasper POV**

It hadn't even been a full minute of us being in the house when Carlisle appeared out of nowhere with the whole twenty questions thing going on, soon enough Esme joined him. I blurred them out for the moment, knowing anyway what they would be. "Where have you been?" "Why didn't you come home?" "What did you think you were doing?" "Why didn't you call us?" and the obvious guilt trip "You could've been hurt and we wouldn't have known!" Instead of fully concentrating on their voices, I simply played with a bit of Alice's hair, the bit that had decided to rebel against the rest and try to cover up part of her beautiful face. I watched her blush as my fingers gently stroked against her cheek, she was determined to concentrate on Carlisle and Esme, and look sincere. I think I succeeded in ruining that façade for her.

Then, without them even realizing, Carlisle and Esme had run out of questions, complaints and mini-rants. This was then they noticed I hadn't been paying full attention, instead focusing on Alice. They both sucked in a deep breath.

"JASPER!" they exclaimed, which finally got my attention. Both mine and Alice's. I swear, my life flashed before my eyes, and my heart rate was probably off the scale.  
"There, much better," Carlisle said, giving Esme a kiss on the cheek, "Thank you dear."  
"You're welcome honey." She smiled up at him.

So sickly sweet. I couldn't help but envy them, and think that maybe Alice and I would one day be like that.  
_Whoa soldier, where'd that come from?! _Psh, like I knew.  
"Anyway. Where were we?" Carlisle's expression changed from soft to stern, and I had to suppress the urge to roll my eyes.  
"Last night? We were by the ocean and we fell asleep without meaning to, then this morning when we woke up we stayed there for another hour and then went to get some breakfast, and now we're here." I smiled at my practically-father, who immediately held out his hand to me, palm up.  
"Keys, now." I laughed at gave him the keys, shaking my head at him. Esme then rushed up to both Alice and I and engulfed us in a very-motherly hug.  
"I'm glad you're both safe, we were worried about you."  
"Mom, you know you don't have to worr-"  
"Yes, I know, I know, but I do. That's what we mothers do you see, other than annoy you," she chuckled. I saw the way Esme had included Alice as much as I in this little joke, and already Alice's eyes were glistening with maybe tears of happiness.  
"Anyway, mom, I'm thinking we're gonna go freshen up then take a trip to the mall, would you like to join us? Alice needs new clothes for school, and I wouldn't mind getting a few new things. What do you say?" I thought it would be nice for Esme and Alice to bond a bit more, for Alice's sake anyway.  
"Oh sure! That sounds wonderful, you don't mind, do you honey?" she looked up at Carlisle who rolled his eyes at her and laughed.  
"Esme, I dearly love you, but to actually willingly go shopping with you is not a walk in the park for me," she playfully smacked him on the arm and chuckled.  
"Okay, okay, your choice. Go on then you two, go get ready!" she shooed us away and pushed Carlisle towards the kitchen, insisting that he help her work out a new colour scheme for a floor plan she was working on.

Alice and I were walking up the stairs in a comfortable silence when she finally spoke.  
"So, what does Esme do?" she pondered aloud, a thought turned question.  
"She is like an interior designer, so she finds cheap places to buy and totally change to whatever she wants them to be and then sells them on. However, most of the time she usually spends the time just planning out designs and floor plans. Her work is great." Actually, when I thought about it, I was really proud of my 'mothers' work, as well as my 'fathers'.

Thinking about the whole situation of my not being a biological Cullen and Alice not knowing was biting at my soul. I wished to tell her, but the opportunity never seemed to arise. To trouble her without cause seemed too cruel, so I thought to just let it lie, even if it meant that I was lying to her in a roundabout way. I knew pretty much the whole story behind her being. All she had were assumptions, all she had were lies. I accidently let out a sigh, and immediately her head snapped round with a puzzled but cute look on her face.

"What's wrong Jasper?" concern fully coloured her tone.  
"Nothing, just extra oxygen in my lungs, I thought I'd be nice and contribute it to the atmosphere." Alice then stopped on the stair whilst I carried on walking upwards. I stopped and looked back at her, the dumbfounded look on her face too much to control the laughter that then tumbled out of me, which she joined me with.

"Oh Jasper, you are a fool."  
"Don't worry, I know." She smiled at me then, and in that instant I knew that one day I'd be able to tell her everything and somehow it would all work out okay. It had to.

**A/N: I'm lazy and I suck, I know. I hope that the extra length of this chapter makes up for those two contributing factors! But don't worry, I have some more ideas that need to be put in place, so I have foundations to build on. Yes, the title is cliché, but I feel it fits perfect with this chapter... **

**As per usual, mega huge thanks and bundles of love go to:  
jcwannab, XxWannaBetxX, Roses004, hansbmd, the evil little pixie and XXSkittlesXX you guys are what keeps me motivated! **

**And you know what to do now, don't you?  
Review! How do you like the story so far? Is it going in a direction you like? Is the time ripe for me to evilly shake things up? Tell me! **

**x **


	15. Shedding Layers

**Jasper POV**

Now I fully understood that I was an idiot. Alice had not been kidding that hardly any males willingly go shopping with two women, yet here I was having been forced into nearly every clothing store known to man. Esme had insisted that instead of going to Port Angeles as we would usually, we would drive all the way to Seattle, to where she said there were 'proper shops' at a 'proper shopping mall'. Alice, obviously, had been fine with this, and so the next day we had gotten up extra early and driven all the way to Seattle, just for shopping. The lengths that women would go to for clothing, shoes and pretty jewellery or make-up. Personally, I was mind-boggled.

At the precise moment I was in American Apparel, shop number thirteen I believe, also the place where I could see Alice was getting the most things. Alice and Esme were both in the little cubicles trying on goodness knows how many items of clothes while I sat at the end of the long, thin room listening to the soft and what I guessed was supposed to be relaxing music.

"Jasper, can you come here a sec?" Alice's head poked out from the cubicle, and immediately I got up to walk towards her.  
"What is it?" I asked as soon as I was level with her; she pulled back the curtain and gestured to her dress. I frowned a little, wondering why she was holding a hand to her chest as she sighed at me.  
"I can't do it up, can you help me?" she rolled her eyes at me as she turned around and looked at herself in the mirror. Slowly, my hands found the zip near the crook of her back. I didn't know why, but they were shaking like crazy, but in the end I managed to pull it up to the top of the dress, in the middle of her back.  
"There we go," I said, and then I stood back and looked at her in the mirror. If I didn't say she looked cute I would be lying.

Alice was wearing a simple pair of black heels, so she was now slightly taller, but still smaller than me, which I liked; she was still the little pixie. The dress she was wearing was a deep navy, almost velvet looking, with a lighter shade of navy as a cinching belt at her waist, and then the dress flared out slightly. It looked lovely on her. I bent down slightly so my mouth was next to her ear and whispered into it.  
"You look lovely," it was then that Alice's eyes widened and one of her hands shot up to cover her mouth. All this happened while I watched her in the mirror, completed confused by her reaction. She whipped round and pushed me out of the cubicle, grabbed at the curtain and yanked it across the empty space, blocking me from her view. I was speechless. What had just happened?!

For the rest of the day it was like Alice was a whole new person. She wasn't the Alice I knew, but she was managing to fool Esme. I went along with it, for Esme's sake anyway, but something was up. It was like that moment in the changing room had flipped a switch in Alice. Before, back when I had first pulled her out of those dingy alleys, I'd turned the lights inside of her on, so she was happy after obvious trauma for most of her present. Now, it was like I had accidentally leant on it, not on purpose though, it was just one of those innocent moments, but nevertheless Alice's switch had been flipped back to doom and gloom and there was nothing I could do to flip it back.

"I think we're done here!" Esme's cheery voice sounded as she clapped her hands together, happy with the day's work, "How about we quickly grab a Starbucks and begin the journey home?" I smiled at her, nodding enthusiastically.  
"Yeah, sure, sounds great." Alice meekly nodded as Esme enquiringly looked at her as well, and so we headed in the direction of the Starbucks. Before I could even see the building, I smelt it. That beautiful scent of pure coffee, mixed with hints of chocolate and caramel. Taking a deep breath of it all it felt like a personal heaven to me. People were walking towards us holding their cups of coffee, shopping bags dangling on their arms as their chatted away their carefree whims of life. Soon we were in the coffee shop and taking our orders, the machines creating a wave of sound, the caffeine buzz practically visible in the air. I couldn't help but be smiling all through it. Once we had our drinks we started walking back towards the general exit of the mall, and easily found our car and begin the long journey back home, where hopefully everything could be patched back up again. Hopefully.

**Alice POV**

What had I done?! I knew that answer. I had ruined _everything_. Sure, I had not exactly planned to freak out as such but still, I did. I wanted to open the car door and jump out of it, to end all of this, to end the battle in myself and the pain, sadness and confusion that I could practically feel radiating from Jasper. I was all too sure that if I told him the exact reason as to why I had acted in the way I did, it would sound stupid and childish. He wouldn't understand.

Sitting in the backseat of the car while Jasper and Esme were in the front was awkward. Jasper had offered to drive so Esme was at liberty to chatter to us both, and while I conversed with her in equally bright tones I could always feel the piercing blue spheres full of worry and concern in their attempt to lock with my own, in comparison, dull brown ones. Jasper was trying to work everything out, trying to unlock the door to my soul through eye contact. I doubted he would succeed.

The past had secured that door too well. Every cruel look, a new layer, each harsh word, another layer, every other oh so painful punch, slap, kick, extra layers. And so the pattern was repeated. It would take a long time for anyone to peel off each one. A therapist's dream experiment, not to mention along with the huge pay cheque they would get at the end of it. I knew that Jasper would happily volunteer to be that therapist, to cleanse my soul and let someone else know all the horror that had happened, but I couldn't let him. For a while now I had been getting a weird vibe that there was more to Jasper than what he liked to show. Something he himself wouldn't shed, something that could compare to my own past… But no. Jasper was fine, nothing could've happened to him. He was so strong, so together, and if anything had happened it wouldn't have been major. He would've told me.

After thinking it through, I wasn't so sure. The headlights outside were like a lullaby to me, the more I stared out the window the stronger the silent ballad was. The bright orange spheres turned into bokeh and I felt my eyelids droop. I hoped to fall into the blackness that I was sure would take me away for a while, put me in a comfortable world where all this worry I had would dissipate and my heart would be lighter and happier. Soon enough, I fell.

**Esme POV**

It was a little while after the conversation that Alice and I had been having had finished that she fell into a slight slumber. Here was where I decided I could finally address the awkward and rather saddening feeling that had been drifting around our group for most of the day. Something had happened in a moment that I hadn't been near Jasper and Alice, or noticing them, so now was when I was going to help sort situation this was out. I shifted in my seat slightly to check on Alice's state, she seemed pretty sound asleep. Then I turned back to face Jasper.

"So, what did you do now?" I said bluntly, getting straight to the heart of the matter. Jasper took his eyes off the road for a second to look at me in surprised shock, mouth gaping like a fish.  
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," he replied after the pause. I raised one eyebrow and pursed my lips, tipping my head to one side a little bit. Jasper sighed.  
"Okay, first, I didn't do anything wrong. Well, I don't think I did. If I did, I didn't mean to, you see…" He explained everything that had, or in this case, hadn't done. By the end of it I was pretty confused. I was thinking over it all so hard that I didn't realise that Jasper hadn't finished speaking.  
"So Mom, what do you think about it all?" his tone was full of concern, with a twist of complete helplessness. It was then that I realised the extent of which he cared for Alice, it was heart-breaking to see him in a state of mind where he thought he had hurt her. I blinked and shook my head lightly, finally coming to a conclusion to Alice's reaction.

"You have, as they say, hit a nerve. Something you did must've triggered a memory in Alice's past that she obviously didn't want to think of ever again. In doing that, she shut you out. Now you just have to gain her trust back, and though it'll be hard for you, you will need to walk on eggshells for a bit, at least until she seems better." It was a sad answer for him to hear, I knew that, but it was the truth. Jasper sighed.

"Since when did you become a good therapist Mom?" he chuckled, "But thanks, I guess you're right. I'll talk to her as soon we're back home, sort things out, apologise." I gave him a slight smile and as I looked into his eyes I felt like they weren't just the shallow pond of youth that they once were, now they were deep pools of new feelings, responsibilities, knowledge.

**Jasper POV**

I turned the key in the ignition and the rumble of the engine cut out. I opened the car door and went to the boot. I heard Esme chuckle from the other side of the car.

"Oh Jasper, always the gentleman." I rolled my eyes at her as I pulled out the bags of shopping out of the boot and walked up to the house. I put the bags by the door and then went back to the car. Passing Esme on the way back to it, she gave me a look and a slight nod of understanding. Quietly I slipped into the car and lightly shook Alice to wake her up. Groggily, she opened her eyes and sat up straighter, putting her hands to her face and rubbing it to wake herself up. She sadly smiled at me.

"We need to talk, don't we?" she spoke quietly, almost nervously. I solemnly nodded at her.  
"I need to understand what happened today Alice, I have to know what will set you off, what I can't do. I can't forever be walking on eggshells. You have to trust me." Her head dropped slightly, and for a while she was silent. When she looked back up, there was the ghost of herself in her eyes, a haunting image, and that was the one thing that her brain wouldn't let her forget. Alice took a deep breath.  
"You don't understand, Jasper." She frowned and then quickly undid her seatbelt, getting out of the car as fast as she could. I followed suit.  
"Maybe it's _you_ that doesn't understand Alice!" I raised my voice, and Alice came to a halt where she stood. She whirled round and if looks could kill, I would've already been six feet under.  
"Oh, really?!" she practically shouted, throwing every bit of venom into her voice that she could muster.  
"Yes, really! You have no idea about me Alice, in fact, you never asked. I know that you've been through a lot of shit, but haven't we all?!" I hurled back at her, she still stood with that look on her face and fists curled by her sides.  
"You know what I've been through Jasper, but in no state of mind could you actually feel what I've felt, seen what I've seen or understand any of my past. Don't even think for one second that you actually could." Her voice was low and dangerous, threatening but also asking for a challenge. It was at this point that I completely lost it, so much so that I threw my arms in the air and shouted at her.

"Alice, you aren't the only one who's felt pain you know! You aren't alone!"  
"What happened to you then? Oh, your parents put you into care and you got adopted by the greatest people in the world? I don't see that as _pain_ Jasper!" She really hit a nerve then. I stormed up to her, looming over her petit figure and for the first time in a while I saw a flash of fear on her face, but it was quickly replaced with the same anger. Then, I did something I thought I would never do. I growled at a woman, right in her face. I growled like an angered lion at Alice.

"You know, Alice, most people remember their childhoods as the best times of their lives, going on holidays to Disneyland with their parents, playing in the park with their friends, being care-free, having fun. I _never_ had that. It was fine at first, just being upstaged by my sister constantly, that was okay. Sure, it hurt to be shunned by my parents, who for the most part were disgusted at having me as a son and wished I was never born. My Mother's disgust hurt a lot more than the mans, but I could live with that, knowing that maybe one day I could be good enough for them. When it came to my Father taking the disgust too far, that's when it wasn't okay. Then again, what could I do about it? I was a kid; no-one would believe me." By now I was pacing, it was good to be finally telling Alice all this, but the frustration inside me was way too much. "I didn't tell anyone. My Father would carefully place his beatings, so that way they couldn't cause any suspicion. If he was drunk and hit me on the arms or legs I would lie at school when the teachers asked about them. It was easy once I was used to it. 'Oh, I tripped up the stairs,' 'Oh, I walked into the door handle,' 'Oh, I fell over.' They believed it. Of course they did. All of this carried on, and no-one knew except my Father and I. Mother always took my sister to nice and fancy places when she wasn't in school, so my Father had plenty of chances. I don't blame my sister, though because she was so 'perfect' to my parents I was repulsive to them, it wasn't her fault. It was a sport to my Father, a sport he could win at with ease."

"It was only until one day my Father went too far. He crossed the invisible line that was set and lost his little game." I met Alice's eyes and noticed the visible change in them. When only a second ago they had been full of red hot anger they were now fearful and tense. "The leather belts, the punches, and the kicks I could bear. All it took was an intake of breath and a strong suit of mind. But nothing could've prepared me for that night. He was drunk, which was unusual for him, but it obviously didn't improve him. I was just reading in the kitchen, something that most kids wouldn't have been doing. It wasn't even late. No-one heard him come home, and no-one woke up until I screamed. This time, he didn't use his own fists or feet, he used something a lot worse. Do you want to know what he used, Alice?" With one hand she was covering her mouth, and she shook her head slowly but I carried on anyway, "He used a bread knife on me, his only son. I still have the scars. Want to see?" Again, she shook her head but I ignored her, making a rip in my sweats where I knew the scars were. I angled my leg to make sure the porch light hit them and I heard Alice's gasp.

"It was my Mother who found me, in a pool of my own blood with the kitchen tiles scattered around me where he'd pushed me against the wall and I'd fallen to the floor. Apparently he was stood leaning against the counter with a dish-cloth, wiping the blood off the bread knife that had just easily sliced through my skin. Of course, I don't remember that part, but my poor Mother remembers it easily enough." Alice was stood in complete shock, her eyes not able to leave the ugly scars on my thigh.

"So now you can believe me when I say that even though you've been in a lot of pain, I can understand it, all too well."

With that I walked away from Alice, leaving her frozen on the drive way. I walked through the house without giving anyone a glance; I just headed straight for the one room in which I could relax, sleep, and not think at all.

**A/N: So, here it is, finally... This would've been up last night, but (funny story) there was a moth in the room and it was flying around the light creating huge moth shadows and I was terrified, so ran from the room... Heh. Anywho, hope you like this chapter, hope it's long enough for ya all! (3,000 words exactly, minus this A/N!) I have a wedding to go to today, and then on monday I'm going on a (most likely stupid) camping trip with my mother (ugh). I'll try to start writing a new chapter tomorrow, so that'll be up sometime next week.**

**Thanks, as always(!) go to:  
**

**Embrylover4ever, Calleygirl80, jcwannab, XXSkittlesXX, the evil little pixie, hansbmd, Roses004, samabelle-502, dancingsilverwolf and Falling-sprinkles for all the reviews, faves and alerts, you're all too nice :) **


	16. Run

**Esme POV**

Around twenty minutes after I had left Jasper and Alice outside to talk, Jasper had stormed into the house with a face of thunder, and I was instantly worried. While Emmett lay on the couch with a dreamy look on his face watching TV, but not _really_ watching it. Something was up with him, but for now I was just worried about Jasper, and Alice. If there was something wrong with Emmett then yes, I would be concerned, but the look on his face showed that nothing was wrong with him, so that was fine.

On the other hand, I most certainly knew that something was up with Jasper and Alice. It had been a good fifteen minutes since Jasper had come back into the house and gone straight upstairs, and Alice still hadn't shown her face. I was pacing in the kitchen, waiting for her to walk in the house and try and make me think everything was okay, that they were back to normal. Being so immersed in my own thoughts, I hadn't realised that Carlisle was leaning against a wall in the kitchen, watching me intently. I slightly jumped when I finally noticed him, but then gave him a small smile.

"What's wrong?" He asked in _that_ voice, the voice that said that he would know something was wrong, even if I answered 'Oh, nothing.' I sighed and Carlisle opened up his arms to me. I snuggled up into his chest and then looked up at him.

"It's Jasper and Alice. It looks like they've had a row, and Alice hasn't come back into the house. I'm worried." I gushed out, watching the expression on Carlisle's face turn from normal to solemn.

"Would you like me to go find her?" he asked quietly, to which I nodded. Carlisle dealt with patient's everyday, and most of the time a lot of physiological things fell into treating the patient, I knew he could help Alice with a lot better advice than I had given Jasper.

At least, I hoped.

**Carlisle POV**

I shrugged on my coat while reaching out for my scarf and grabbed the car keys on the table by the front door. I was hoping not to be needing the car, but I was planning for the worst. Opening the door I was greeted by a cold Washington wind, it was bitter and harsh, the one true sign that for Forks, winter was just around the corner. Drawing my scarf tighter around my neck and tucking my hands into the coat pocket I strode out into the night. Apart from the semi-circle of light emitted from the house, there was simply darkness engulfing the forest around. It was threatening, dominating.

_So help me if Alice has wandered into the woods, _I thought, shivering from the cold but still walking around in front of the house, listening for any guilty sounds of a human.

Walking round the edge of the woods surrounding the house I couldn't hear anything minus the breath of wind that would bring with it an ice cold shiver to chill your bones, apart from that there was only silence. It looked like I would have to take a trip down the driveway and search around there. For that, a torch was going to be a necessity. Rushing back to the house, I was greeted by a very worried looking Esme.

"Did you find her yet?" she gushed out.

"Not yet honey, but I've only checked around the house, I'm getting a torch to go down the driveway." I put a hand on her shoulder to calm her slightly.

"Hold on, I'll go get a torch for you then," Esme sped off in the direction of the kitchen and was back in less than fifteen seconds with a torch and spare batteries, "Just in case." She gave me the torch and batteries then went on her tip-toes to kiss my cheek. Looking me firmly in the eye, she spoke very gravely.

"Carlisle, you _have_ to find her." I nodded and left the house once more.

The driveway was a stretch of complete darkness and silence. The beam of light from the torch was the only source of light, but to compare it to the wood's darkness would be like talking about a small single star in the whole universe. A dying star's light. I was very slowly making my way through the shadows, shining the torch all around the edge of the path, trying not to make any sound possible. In doing this, every other sound in the woods was magnified. A little squirrel would dash across the floor of leaves, an owl swooping low between the branches, anything, absolutely anything, sounded like something. The thinner trees appeared to sway in the small wind, though they weren't. The thick, ancient trees loomed above my head, dominating and powerful, gracious and wise. They were protectors, or destroyers. I picked up my pace on the silent walk through the woods.

And then I heard it.

The tiniest of sniffles and short breaths were to be heard. They were ragged, forced out of a throat where they had been trapped, held. I froze, instantly. Then I listened even more carefully, slowly moving towards where I thought Alice might be. Shining the torch light everywhere possible, finally, it hit what I was looking for. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alice, thank God."

* * *

**Esme POV**

I was terribly restless. It was a bad habit that I'd previously picked up from my mother, I guessed. Sitting by the island in the middle of the kitchen, tapping a rhythm with my fingernails on the marble surface, I felt like I needed to do something. I had to do something. By sitting here and simply waiting, that wasn't enough.

Impatience got the better of me. It was when I was power-walking up the stairs that one of the doors in the hall opened and out stepped Jasper. His face was screwed up, and it was a huge mix of sadness, regret, anger and fear. This, in itself, scared me. Jasper was never one to so freely express so many emotions at once.

"Tell me." I asked immediately. His eyes were scrunched up in anguish, brows deeply furrowed. Then he sighed, and Jasper's face relaxed.  
"I told her. I told her everything." He looked up, and in his eyes the intensity of his sorrow was extremely prominent.  
"Oh, oh." I couldn't think of saying anything else.  
"Where is she?" Jasper's tone was full of pain.

"Jasper, she's gone." His face paled even further, and he sprinted down the stairs.

**A/N: A tad anti-climatic, I apologise. In fact, I apologise in general as I haven't posted a chapter in goodness knows how long. However, I have been rather busy, as school has started an all, so it's been a bit hectic. Also, sorry this is rather short, I just wanted to get a chapter up for you guys. **

**Many amazing thank-you's to all my amazing reviewers, and the people who favourite and follow this story, you're the best people ever!**

**So, I'll put all your lovely names right here:  
Bouncing Bee, hansbmd, jcwannab, deltagirl174, XxWannaBetxX and secretlifefreak, oh, also to my friend Caitlin who was saying in PE the other day how she wanted me to get this chapter up soon, when I didn't know she had read all of this story, thank you Caitlin ;)**

**Leave a review saying what you like or hate about the story so far and what you want more of in it (Emmett and Rosalie next chapter, I promise!)**

**x **


	17. In the Face of Fire

**A/N: You must all hate me. I'm so sorry. I hope this makes up for the wait that was much too long for you all, and I hope you can forgive me. I won't keep you any longer, here it is. **

A sigh of relief and a thousand suns beaming into my view. I squinted, gave a small cry and finally gave in to the pool of blackness that was tugging at my brain. Suddenly, I stumbled into the pool, apparently no more graceful now than I was when awake, falling and tumbling into the black hole like something out of Alice in Wonderland. Alice... Falling down the rabbit hole. Down she goes, down she goes.

_Wake up Alice, wake up._

Fire surrounded me, burning and glowing like rubies set out in a delicate and precise flowing pattern. Fingers urging forward, they stroked the fire and found it smooth to the touch, silky and cold despite the heat they represented. In an instant they billowed and whipped around my fingers, surrounding every part of me and choking me, their temperature switching from stone cold to a white-iron hot. I grasped for anything that could save me, but the fire began to snake around my throat and seemed to seep into my being, curling around my heart, getting tighter and tighter. When I opened my mouth to scream, not a whisper could be heard. Tears could not be shed, the heat stole them from me, and my mouth became dry.

_It's just a dream, Alice. _

One single laugh broke through the roaring silence, the femininity of it was shocking yet terrifying.

"Poor little Alice, is there nobody here to save you now?" It spoke in a mocking tone, but it still managed to sound sultry and posessive. "You silly girl, you've pushed everyone away, and now you're all alone. What a shame. Don't worry Alice, I'll put you out of your misery sooner or later, just you wait." One last final laugh pierced my ears before the flames became too much, too high, too strong. Everything that I knew, that I was, burnt.

_Alice, wake up!_

**Jasper POV**

My breath was ragged and torn as I jogged through the forest with the rain lashing down on my like the knives that had tormented me in my dreams for so long, but hope burned inside of me and I couldn't let the rain damped that tiny flame. It was all that kept me going. For a moment, I stopped. Hands on my knees as I bent over to catch my breath; mist was forming which each breath I took, the temperature drop in Forks becoming more and more pronounced as each day ran on.

"Don't stop now Jasper, she needs you." I spoke to myself, giving confidence and courage. Into the forest I ran once more. Despite there being a defined road, I had forgotten to pick up a torch or any sort of light in the process of getting out of the house, and so the once clear road had become a lost trail in the rain and darkness, like a piece of carefully finelined ink had suddenly had a pot of water spilt on it and the lines that had been so blunt and simple before became blurred and mis-leading. I needed to find her. I needed to fix this.

"You're such a prick Jasper, you left her out there, all on her own. Now it's raining and it's dark and it's cold and you can't find her. You left her scared and... You're a prick." I chastised my actions. I thought about the anger that had lead to my revelation, I thought about the look in her eyes as she finally saw the one thing I had so easily kept from her. The fear that those eyes captured, that fear was my fuel as I sped through the mess of forest. The rain had already soaked my clothing, but that didn't matter. My hair was sticking to my face, it felt slick and wild, but that didn't matter. My heart, beating like a drum in my chest, near explosion point as I worked it so hard to pound through the forest? That didn't matter either. Alice mattered. She was all that mattered.

Her scream pierced the night, and my ears vowed to never have to hear that sound again.

"Wake up Alice, wake up!" The man's voice was an electric shock to my system, and my brain didn't think, it just assumed. I let out an animalistic snarl and sprinted in the direction of her scream, the voices now where more audible, growing and growing. Her sobbing and heart-wrenching gasps for air all that I focused on, I soon broke through the foliage to finally reach the road once more, and to finally reach Alice.

That mess of blonde hair was instantly recognisable, and was the only thing that stopped my fist from reaching out to meet Carlisle as he spun round at the sound of my entrance. The light from his torch shot into my eyes and I had to bring up a hand to cover my eyes.

"Thank goodness you're here, son." Carlisle's relief etched on his face, "She won't open her eyes. Once I found her, she slipped into a coma-like state but it was apparent she was dreaming. Now it seems like she is awake but her eyes won't open and she won't stop crying. We need to get her back." I simply nodded, not letting my eyes leave Alice's face.

Her hair, even more jet black from the rain and the darkness of the night, was scraped back from her face and she looked much too pale, like a ghost. Her brow was crinkled, as if she felt a deep and immeasurable pain and guilt wreaked havoc over my thoughts. _No, concentrate._ _She needs help, you need to help her._

Carlisle picked her up in a firemans lift, her body limpless apart from the slight twitches that occured every other moment in which her face crumpled up in pain. I moved forward to take her from Carlisle but he shook his head.

"You're tired, you ran through half the forest. I'll take her, but we need to go._ Now_." Not waiting for an answer, he turned and strode back towards the direction of the house, successfully managing to follow the road despite the weather fighting against us. I followed, feeling useless and a nuisance, feeling like this wouldn't have happened if it weren't for me. This feeling was worse than any other, worse than even waking up in the hospital and seeing Mother's face not being able to cover her disgust at my wound and yet feeling to blame at the same time, worse than seeing _his _face again in the courtroom. Nothing compared to knowing that you had hurt the person you cared about the most in the most horrific way that you could hurt them. Knowing that you had gotten under their skin, screwed up their entire thought process and left them in a mess, without even meaning too. If there was a feeling that compared to this or even had a harsher tone, I didn't want to feel it.

We were nearing the house now, I could see it like a lighthouse through the trees as they began to thin out and become less menacing. Even the rain was loosening off now, of course that didn't matter now, it had done it's damage. Just as I had.

"Run ahead will you, ask Esme to get some towels from the airing cupboard and make some hot drinks for us." Carlisle was in his doctor mode, I could tell, and I wasn't going to not do as he said. Picking up my pace, it wasn't too long until I was at the house, and before I had even reached the front door from walking up the porch Esme was there, panic stricken from only seeing me at the door.

"Did you not find her?! My God, you're soaked through, get inside!" Her voice was high pitched and made Emmett come to the door in curiosity.  
"Mate, why are you drenched?" He pulled me through the door while Esme ran to get towels, mother's instinct, "What happened?" Emmett finally asked after watching me shiver for a few seconds.  
"A-Alice and I fought, she-" I took a gulp of air to steady myself, "She ran off, I had to find her." His face grew concerned.  
"... And did you!?" I nodded, and he released the air he had been holding in a sigh.  
"Thank God for that. I can't believe Esme didn't tell me, though I did wonder where you'd all disappeared to."

The sound of knocking on the door broke the small silence that grew between Emmett and I and he bounded up to go open it so I could stay shivering. Esme ran down the stairs with her arms full of towels at the sound of the knocks and was ready and waiting for when Carlisle brought in Alice and laid her down on the sofa gently. She was like a porcelain doll, so fragile.

Seeing her in the light scared me more than I thought it could. Her lips were pale, so pale, and tinged blue while her skin had taken on a grey pallor, worse than a ghost, closer to resembling a corpse. Weak at the knees, I fell next to the sofa and began to delicately pull back pieces of stray hair that stuck to her face from the rain. We were alone now, everyone had gone to do different jobs in the hope of aiding Alice once she awoke; Carlisle was fetching medical supplies and making his own diagnosis' to her situation, Esme was making a hot meal that would be a motherly remedy for Alice and Emmett was finding some dry clothes for us to change into. It felt like the rest of the house was in such a rush and yet there was an orb that surrounded Alice and I, keeping us seperate from all other measurements of time and all meaning. It was just her, lying as if on her death bed, unbeknown to the world and all that surrounded her and me, desperately needing her to wake up so I could apologise, so I could make it all better. In that moment I felt helpless and useless. I couldn't save her.

One single tear danced down my cheek and I grasped one of Alice's hands, putting my forehead on my arm to try and calm myself and control my emotions. I needed to stay strong for her, she couldn't see me like this. When she woke up, she needed to be reassured, she didn't need to be greeted by a wreck. When would she wake up? She had to wake up. She couldn't leave me, not like this. I needed to say I was sorry, I needed to take back all the anger that I threw in her face. A quake cracked up my spine as my whole frame shook, tears beginning to flow more freely now. Looking back up, her face looked much more relaxed now, too relaxed, and I let one of my fingers trace her jawline, before my head fell back down onto my arm and fresh tears fell.

_Wake up Alice, wake up._

**A/N: I'm fully aware that this is quite a weird chapter, and I'm not on drugs, don't worry. Recently I saw Alice in Wonderland in the cinema and as I began to write this I felt like incorporating that somehow, I hope it worked out okay. Anywho, I'm terribly sorry. I don't think I could apologise enough, I never planned for the gap between chapters to be so long, it sort of just happened. Hopefully it won't happen that drastically again mind you! By the way, this chapter hasn't been Beta'd so there may still be a few mistakes, probably likely as I've just written it in less that two hours and it's now 12:33am and I am seriously tired! OH! And I realise that I promised more Emmett/Rosalie in this chapter, but obviously other stuff kind of came to mind first, but don't worry, I will have another chapter up asap and they will be a main focus in it! **

**The biggest thanks in the world need to go to these people, especially for the recent personal messages that have given me a truly deserved kick up the ass, thank you!**

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	18. Don't Rock the Boat

**A/N: Another weird start to a chapter, sorry, I promise I really am not on drugs, I just have a really weird imagination...**

Alice was floating, flying, free. The world around her was a flurry of colour, like the tornado of fire that had once surrounded her but now was calm and cool, lifting her spirits and setting her soul alight with peace. She liked this feeling. Alice felt content and happy, she could stay here for all her life.

Just as she had fully settled in this surrounding she was falling again, not as harsh this time, it felt like this had happened a thousand times and the sensation was just another that she was used to. This atmosphere was a lot different to the one before.

There was a boat, and it slowly rocked from one side to the other, slightly bobbing but not enough to disturb anything. The moon shone down, large and luminous, leaving a great trail of rippling silver to break on the ocean.

There Alice sat, on the rocking boat, as the anchor creaked with each movement, reminding her she was steady and safe. She felt anything but that. Curled up into a ball, the wood beneath her was hard and harsh, she felt like she was sitting on her emotions as confusing memories flew through her mind. Loud voices, lots of rain, tears.

Though while she thought, she was caught in a scene of utter magic. Standing on the deck, she marveled at the ocean and it's dark and ominiscent waves, so deep and dangerous, black as charcoal and yet glimmering like a thousand diamonds. She looked up at the moon and could almost count each crater, the glorious glow surrounding the full orb beaming like a torch. And for miles around, all that could be seen was ocean, for she had sailed so far out, so far away from everything, all to be free. She was free.

"Is this real?" she asked aloud to the ghosts of the air, mist flying from her mouth due to the cold night. Her breath became little clouds floating away, they were like mystical spindrils of smoke. She was gripping on to the hand rail tightly, she didn't know whether she was unbearably trapped on this expanse of water or undoubtably free. Would she rather be trapped? She knew there was another existence, but it was like her brain couldn't grasp onto the idea, it was unable to help her remember.

_Remember, Alice._

"I can't, I can't!" She screamed, an echo lost on the silent waves, an eerie fog descended that was thick to be felt but thin to be seen, it began to consume everything.

"No, no, I don't like this, stop!" Alice swiped at the air in front of her to clear the fog but it was too much. There was no other escape. Climbing up onto the hand rail Alice peered down into the black ocean, not taking any other action into consideration, only wanting to escape and not feel.

Alice's head snapped upwards as the voice that had spoken to her in the fire spoke again.

"Take the easy way out, go on." It attacked her at all angles, there was no direct source of it, and suddenly Alice felt the need to repel it's advice, to rebel against it. Taking control of her emotions and pulling in a breath, Alice built up the courage to reply.

"Why should I, surely I don't have to do everything you say? You don't own me." For a moment there was no answer. Then, the voice laughed as it had before.  
"Of course I don't own you. However, control is different, is it not? You're very easy to control," the mocking tone infuriated Alice, nothing witty to say struck her now and she turned to face the murky depths once more.

"If I jump now, it's my choice. Not yours. It would be my choice to jump and that means that you wouldn't be controlling me," she whispered to herself, hoping the otherwordly voice might not hear her.  
"Except it would be, Alice, you are only feeling these emotions because of me. You are only here because of me," there was a slight pause in which the mist shifted as if to try and please Alice, to try and get her back on track. Instead, she smiled.

"I will jump and I will do it not because you are trying to control me, but because I'd rather not exist here. If I am trapped then this can free me." Alice concluded before laughing and diving from the hand rail into the freezing water.

Once submersed Alice had expected this form of death to be easy and so her eyes and her mouth were clamped shut with her face crinkled into a frown. After a while of nothing happening she realised one crucial factor missing from this 'death'. She could still be breathing. The water caressed her face, her hair continued to float around her and yet the salty sea water failed to drown her lungs and claim her life.

Tentatively, she opened her eyes. Everything around her was crystal clear, like a sick version of reality in high-definition. And still, she was very much alive.

"I did warn you," a visible whisper swam towards her and then appeared to disintegrate into the ocean, "You're here because of me, and you'll stay here because of me."

**Emmett POV**

Currently, I was on 'Alice-watch' as I had tried to get everyone to nickname it, though suffice to say they weren't really impressed. The time on the clock said that 10am was nearing and despite me having been on 'shift' for nearly 4 hours now, no-one else in the house was awake yet. What an outrage. For probably the thousandth time that day I yawned, on more than one occasion I'd nearly fallen asleep while having to watch Alice in her coma-like state, but luckily I'd managed to stay awake. Jasper would go mental on me if he came downstairs to find me asleep.

This whole situation was confusing to me, if I'm honest. Jasper was ecstatic when he got the place in Dallas and he couldn't wait to have his own freedom. He loved us all still, obviously, but it was just that sense of independence that he needed more than anything, and Esme and Carlilse gave him that without a worry in the world. Then all of a sudden he's on the phone to Carlisle needed to bring this girl, a girl we knew nothing about, back to Forks. Not to say that I didn't like Alice, from what I saw of her she was a nice girl, though whenever I was around her I felt these weird vibes, like she was scared of me or something. I know I'm buff and proper macho, but she needn't be afraid of me.

"Maybe she's terrified of my dashing good looks," I laughed at my own good humour, stretching up in the chair to crack some of the bones that had turned lazy throughout the hours. Another yawn nearly escaped me as I got up to get something to eat from the kitchen, surely Alice would be okay without my watchful eye for a couple of minutes?, and as I was halfway towards the glorious fridge when the doorbell rang, and I groaned. The noise was like a clap of thunder in the deathly silence that had cloaked the house over the night.

As I approached the door I saw a very tired-looking Jasper walking down the stairs, still in his pyjamas the lazy git, towards the kitchen to get his breakfast. Again, lazy and lucky git. Unlocking the door I was preparing to have a very annoyed face on for who-ever was at the door, until I saw who was at the door.

**Jasper POV**

My first thought as I awoke was of Alice. It sounds corny, I know; but I'm worried about her, so worried. An ache in the back of my head kept on reminding me that if it wasn't for me she wouldn't even have been out there. And that ache is just a solid kick that she is like this now because of me. That ache is something I can't bear.

I needed to do something. I couldn't just lay here in bed because that was a sure fire way to start thinking which was _never_ a good idea. Turning on my side I looked at the time to see it was nearly 10am, so brunch it was. Making my way down the stairs I heard the doorbell ring and to be honest, I didn't want anyone to see me in the state I was now. Emmett was already on his way to the door, he could deal with it. Though I was slightly curious who was at the door, most people would just call as they couldn't be bothered to come all the way out here to see any of us. Sometimes it was a blessing really.

"We're not int- Oh, wow, hi!" Emmett's voice suddenly perked up and he coughed to make his voice switch back to masculinity rather than that of a girl in kindergarten, "What are you doing here?" he questioned, still not stating who the hell was at the door. If I wasn't busy getting cereal out of the cupboards and milk out of the fridge I probably would've been more nosey and poked my head around the corner, instead, I just strained my ears to hear the mystery persons response.

"Hi Emmett, I'm looking for Jasper, is he in?" The glass milk bottle slipped from my hand and smashed on the floor, causing a silence to fall on the house. Surely my mind was playing tricks on me.

Walking slowly around towards the hall way I was preparing myself and praying that the voice was someone elses and it just sounded very much like hers, because it _couldn't_ be her, could it?

Except those curly, long blond locks couldn't belong to anyone else and neither could anyone have such strong hazel eyes, and it really was her.

"Rosalie?" I croaked out having not spoken yet today, and the corners of her lips turned up.

"Wait, what?" Emmett ruined the moment as his head turned from looking at me and then Rosalie, and then his jaw dropped, "Oh shit. I'll, I'll just leave you guys to it." He walked past me and into the kitchen, and I could hear some of his murmured profanities at the broken glass and spilt milk on the floor.

It seemed like years that Rosalie and I stood awkwardly like this, her just inside of the closed door and me on the other end of the hallway. I didn't know what do to. I hadn't seen my sister since... Well, since I was 12 and that man royally screwed up my life and I moved nearly 1,500 miles away. That's bound to cause some awkwardness. Then a tear rolled down her cheek and all awkwardness was forgotten. In a matter of seconds I had crossed the hall and my arms were around her body putting nearly 6 years worth of love and regret into the hug as she cried onto my shoulder. A while later she sniffled and looked up at me, a watery smile on her face.

"Hey little brother," she laughed.  
"Four minutes Rosalie, that's nothing!" I chucked, hugging her again. A few sniffs later she stood up straight and wiped her face with the ends of her cardigan, she'd toned down a lot since we were little.  
"I've really missed you Jazzy, what happened back then? Mom still won't tell me, and I hate this. I want to know what happened that night, and I want you back in my life."

**Emmett POV**

"Wow. Shit, wow." I was clearing up Jasper's mess in the kitchen while I could hear her crying in the hallway. Never when I met her at the Garage had the thought crossed my mind that this Rosalie could be _Jasper's_ Rosalie. Then again, thinking about it, how many Rosalie's do you know? So maybe that was slightly stupid to not realise, but I guess I wasn't really thinking about her name and how I could maybe already 'know' her, I was more thinking of how beautiful she was and what a kick-ass car she had.

And I'll have to admit it, yes, I did 'fancy' her. Who in their right mind wouldn't!? But now... Now thing's seemed complicated before anything had even begun. I would have happily asked her out without a care in the world, but she was Jasper's _twin sister _and that now felt weird to me. Can you date your 'brother's' sister if he's your adopted brother and not by blood? Is that even legal? Hell, if you can marry your first cousins in the United States then surely that was okay? I always found it odd that it was legal in most states for you to marry your first cousin and still in most states it is illegal for people who are gay to get married. Sad, really.

Back to the point, if I were to ask Rosalie out on a date I should surely check with Jasper first that it was okay. Everything could get really weird between Jasper and I and I wasn't sure if I wanted to ruin the whole family dynamic just because I wanted to date his sister. Oh this was all so screwed up.

"Hey Emmett, do you mind keeping Rosalie busy for a minute while I go get dressed?" Jasper stuck his head into the kitchen and jolted me out of my reverie and pulling me back into the real world.  
"Er yeah, sure... You okay mate?" I asked, as he looked slightly odd.  
"Yes, yeah, I guess. Just a bit shocked y'know?" He grinned at me, "Thanks Em, I'll be back down soon, don't forget about Alice either." And with that he was out of the kitchen and clambering up the stairs.

Rosalie was perched on one of the sofa's in the lounge, curiously looking at Alice. Her head snapped up as she heard my footsteps approaching the room. I sheepishly grinned at her before remembering my manners.  
"Sorry, would you like a drink or anything? Coffee, tea, juice?" For some stupid reason I was talking too fast and my words nearly ran into eachother, but thankfully Rosalie seemed to get the gist of the sentence.  
"No thank you, I'm okay," she answered politely and smiled, I sat myself in one of the nearby armchairs and we sat in silence for a few seconds simply watching Alice.  
"What's wrong with her?" Rosalie asked, her eyes not leaving Alice.  
"We don't really know, her and Jasper sort of had an argument and she went into the woods when the weather turned bad, Carlisle went out looking for her and thank God he found her but then she sort of passed out and now she's just lying there..." I was rambling, I had to stop.

"Oh..." Was Rosalie's simple reply as she finally looked at me and smiled that lovely smile again, "Thanks for telling me, I didn't really want to ask Jasper though I could tell that her being in this state hurt him. Are they dating?"  
"That's a good question," _Were they? _I thought to myself, they seemed quite close but they didn't exactly act couple-y, "I don't think they are, Jasper hasn't spoken about it to us if they are. They're kind of strange really, I mean we knew nothing about Alice before Jasper was on the phone saying he needed to fly back to Forks with her." Rambling again, shut up Emmett.  
"Wait, fly _back_ to Forks?" A frown graced her forehead and it needed to be eradicated immediately.  
"Yeah, he had moved out after his, your, birthday and got a place in Dallas... Shit, I guess you didn't know that part," Nice one, real smooth.  
"No, not exactly..." Jasper chose this moment to re-enter the room now adequately dressed and presentable.

"Hey, why do you both look so glum?" He tried to sound cheery, but one look at him and how he looked at Alice could tell a stranger that he was pretty torn up right now.  
"Jasper you know me, I tell really shit jokes and this is just the aftermath of one of them, don't worry." I tried to lighten the mood as quickly as possible, I didn't want to have Jasper even more depressed than he seemingly already was.  
"Well that explains it then!" He seemed to give a genuine smile then and I felt like I'd at least done some good that day, "We're going to go out and have some brunch, you're more than welcome to join us Em, fancy it?" For a moment I was on the verge of accepting the offer, but then thought better of it.

"No, you guys have a lot of catching up to do, and someone has to be on Alice-watch." I chuckled but then saw Jasper's face drop slightly, remembering Alice. In the next second it was back to normal.  
"Your loss mate, we won't be too long, tell Carlisle and Esme where we are though so they don't worry. They've done too much for me recently as it is, I shouldn't make them worry."

Standing at the door, I watched Jasper pick up a set of keys from the little table by the door.  
"You should probably mention to Carlisle that I'm also borrowing his car." He gave me a wink and I just punched him on the shoulder, like any brother would. Then I extended my hand out to Rosalie.  
"Nice to meet you again." I gave her a smile and received an equally bright one.

"Yes, again."

**A/N: There might have been a few mistakes littered in this chapter as it isn't Beta'd and it's 2am, my mind can't process this amount of words right now and I really needed to get this chapter to you guys. **

**As usual, huuuuuge thanks to the people who review/fave/sub, the lot. Love you all long time. Sorry I didn't reply to your reviews but it's the Easter holidays and I've been very lazy when I should've been revising...**

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